A Second Budget Revision Two Months After the First: Investment Cut by 6.3 Billion Denars, the Deficit Stays at 46.3 Billion Denars

Parliament has voted through the second revision of the 2026 Budget, just two months after the first. Revenue and spending are each cut by 5.3 billion denars, around 86 million euros. Revenue is now planned at 374.2 billion denars, spending at 420.5 billion, and the deficit stays at 46.3 billion denars, roughly 753 million euros. In the original budget it was 39.2 billion.

Where the money went

Finance Minister Gordana Dimitrieska-Kochoska says the revision is not the result of a liquidity problem, but of lower excise duties and VAT on petrol and diesel. Instead of 34.1 billion denars from excise, the state now expects 30.4 billion. Ruling-party MP Ljupcho Prendzhov explained it in plain terms: when citizens pay 94 instead of 117 denars for a litre of fuel, that money has to be "ironed out" somewhere.

It gets ironed out of investment. According to the Fiscal Council, capital spending, together with the KAPEF line item, falls from around 46.5 to 40.1 billion denars, a cut of 13.6 percent. At the same time, 3.7 billion denars are added for social transfers: around 1.34 billion for pensions, 1.44 billion for social benefits and 887 million for healthcare. The ministry says only projects that are running late anyway are being cut.

The contradiction the Fiscal Council pointed out

In July the higher deficit was justified by the need for more capital investment. Now investment is lower and the deficit is the same. The Fiscal Council warns that with this reallocation part of the borrowing will finance current spending. Translation: we are borrowing to pay running bills, not to build.

The opposition repeats that criticism, only angrier. Dimitar Kovachevski of SDSM talks about poor planning and a high deficit with less development. Amar Mecinović of Levica called the session a "circus", because not one of the opposition's 124 amendments was accepted. Public debt at the end of June stood at 58.8 percent of GDP, which, across an estimated 1,819,074 residents, works out at around 5,896 euros per resident.

Anyone who pulled up at a petrol station felt the cheaper fuel. But a budget that gets recut twice in a few months, and slashes development every time, also says something about how realistic the projections are. The debate on the 2027 budget starts next week. How long until its first revision?