SDSM: Interest on the state debt will cost 350 million euros this year, 120 million more than social assistance

Renata Mladenovska, a member of SDSM's Executive Board, put a number on the table at a press conference that every taxpayer ought to know: in 2026 the state will pay around 350 million euros in interest alone. That, she said, is roughly 120 million euros more than the budget sets aside for social assistance.

The other numbers don't sound any better. According to SDSM, interest payments amount to almost 2 percent of gross domestic product and almost 40 percent of the money allocated to healthcare, as well as of the funds for salaries and allowances. In two years, the party claims, the state debt has grown by around 4 billion euros in new borrowing, and together with the obligations of public enterprises it exceeds 63 percent of GDP. The budget deficit, Mladenovska said, will exceed 900 million euros, and the pension system is short by around one billion euros.

On the other side is the standard of living. The minimum wage, according to SDSM, is stuck at 26,000 denars, while the consumer basket including rent has reached around 90,000 denars. "Three minimum wages are not enough to cover just the basic living costs," Mladenovska said. The government rejected SDSM's proposals for a 600-euro minimum wage and for financial aid to farmers, and some farmers, she said, are being forced to sell land to cover their costs.

Opposition numbers, questions for the government

It needs to be said plainly: these are an opposition party's numbers, presented at a press conference, not an audit report. The appearance was full of partisan rhetoric, from "thieves" to "debt slavery", and the claim about 5.5 million euros for hiring a single DJ was made without any details. Some of the figures are estimates; some are easy to check in the budget.

Which is exactly why the ball is in the Finance Ministry's court. If 350 million euros in interest is the wrong number, the ministry can easily come out with the right one. If it's correct, the question isn't whether it's big, but what we got for the borrowed money and how many years we will be paying it back.

Interest has one quality no government likes: it doesn't build roads, doesn't raise wages and doesn't heal anyone. It just gets paid. Every euro spent on interest is a euro that never reached a hospital, a school or social assistance.