41st in Europe or the Fastest Growth in the Region: Filipče and VMRO-DPMNE Are Fighting With Numbers That Can Both Be True at Once

SDSM leader Venko Filipče came out with a figure from the International Monetary Fund: according to IMF projections, Macedonia ranks 41st out of 48 European economies by gross domestic product per capita, at 11,762 dollars. Serbia, Montenegro and Albania are ahead of us. "What third economy - Macedonia is at the bottom of Europe," Filipče said.

VMRO-DPMNE responded with a press release and numbers of its own. Macedonia, they say, has the highest GDP growth rate in the region and the lowest inflation, inflation is 25 percent below the European average, and growth in the second quarter of this year was 4.3 percent. "When Filipče doesn't know any better, he should keep quiet," the party said.

The two numbers measure different things

Nobody needs to lie here for both sides to sound convincing. GDP per capita tells you how big the economy is per person today. The growth rate tells you how fast it's moving. A country can grow the fastest in the region and still stay near the bottom by level, because it's starting from low down. One party looks at the height, the other at the speed, and each presents its half as the whole truth.

Filipče takes the figure all the way to the kitchen. According to him, the consumer basket comes to 90,000 denars including rent, "not even three salaries are enough", there's 4 billion euros of new borrowing in two years, and heating and electricity prices are expected to go up, while the minimum wage isn't rising. VMRO-DPMNE, for its part, pins the debt on the previous government: in 2027, loans worth 2.3 billion euros must be refinanced or repaid, and for 2028 there are obligations of 2.7 billion euros - inherited, they say, from the SDSM-led government.

In the end, citizens don't pay with a growth rate or a place on a table. They pay with their wages at the till. When the parties stop shouting numbers at each other, will any of them say how much that wage will be next year?