The Finance Ministry issued three government bonds with a total value of 2.523 billion denars - around 41 million euros. From 5 August they are listed on the official market of the Macedonian Stock Exchange.

The largest issue is 202,370 long-term bonds without a currency clause, worth 2.024 billion denars or about 32.9 million euros. The maturity date is 30 July 2041. The interest rate is a fixed 5.20 percent.

The second issue is 37,676 bonds with a currency clause, worth 376.8 million denars - about 6.1 million euros. They also mature in 2041, at 5 percent interest.

The third is the smallest: 12,321 bonds without a currency clause, worth 123.2 million denars or about 2 million euros, maturing on 30 July 2029 at 4.35 percent.

Fifteen years and 129 million denars a year

Together the three issues generate around 129.4 million denars in annual interest costs. That is the figure worth keeping in your head - not how much was borrowed, but how much the borrowing costs every year for as long as it runs.

A 2041 maturity means fifteen years of repayment. That is a stretch in which several governments will come and go, while the obligation stays. That is not bad in itself - long-term bonds are a normal instrument and every state uses them.

What was not announced

Not one of the statements says what the money is for. Forty-one million euros borrowed on the domestic market, at up to 5.20 percent interest, repayable through to 2041 - and not a single line about what it goes into.

That is the difference between borrowing and investment. If the money goes into roads, schools or water systems, then the 5.20 percent interest has something on the other side of the ledger. If it goes into running costs, then in 2041 we will be paying for something spent long ago.

Investors get securities with a yield known in advance. That is their side of the deal and it is clear. The citizen, who is the second signatory to the same deal through the budget, only learns the amount. The purpose goes unstated.

The state went to the exchange. The bell rang. The question of what for never made it into the press release.