The Macedonian economy is sending more and more goods into the world, but also buying more and more from abroad - and that difference is the story the numbers tell. According to the State Statistical Office, in the period January-May 2026 exports reached over 3.5 billion euros, while the trade deficit remains high - 1.4 billion euros.

There is good news in the data too. Exports grew by 5.7 percent compared to the same period last year - a sign that Macedonian products are finding their way to foreign markets. But imports are growing at the same time, which means we still buy more from the world than we sell to it.

A trade deficit is not an abstract figure for economists - it means more money leaves the country than enters it through trade. For a small economy, that gap gets patched for decades through borrowing, remittances and foreign investment. The export growth is welcome, but a 1.4 billion deficit in just five months shows how far Macedonia is from a trade balance that holds up on its own.

The question the numbers do not answer is what we export. If the growth comes from low-value-added products - raw materials, semi-finished goods, assembly for foreign brands - then the growth is vulnerable to every crisis abroad. Real economic strength is not measured by how many containers set off across the border, but by what is inside them. And that is a story the statistics stay silent about, and the politicians even more so.