It's summer, and for the exchange offices that means one thing - the season of full tills. According to the data, in just two summer months last year the exchange offices in the country turned over 587 million euros, while on an annual basis citizens exchanged currency worth over 2.2 billion euros.

The numbers say more than meets the eye. The summer spike comes mainly from emigrants returning home for the holidays carrying euros, and from tourists - two groups the Macedonian economy increasingly depends on. When a sector grows most precisely in the months when the diaspora comes home, that's also a reminder of how much our country lives off those who left.

Behind the healthy picture of turnover in the billions there's a quieter truth too. The strong inflow of foreign currency from the diaspora and tourism fills the exchange offices, but it doesn't change the structure of an economy that still leans on money from outside more than on production from within. The exchange offices rub their hands every summer - the question is whether the country is building anything lasting from that money, or just receiving it, changing it and sending it on.