Skopje, 25 November 2024 

With trade openness of over 150% of GDP and export of goods and services of over 70% of GDP, our economy is an example of a small and open economy successfully integrated in global trade flows.  In addition, the export of services is becoming increasingly important driver of economic growth and support to the balance of payments position of the economy with a positive impact on foreign reserves. “The period after 2020 registered an increase in the services sector, especially in the area of computer and business services.  The IT services doubled their share in GDP compared to the exports in 2019, while business services grew by 50%, pointed out the Governor of the National Bank, Anita Angelovska Bezhoska in her column published in the fifth annual edition” Top 100 exporters 2024” on the specialized platform Izvoz.mk

In the column, the Governor pointed out that according to the IMF’s AI readiness index, our country is on the 77th position out of 174 countries, which indicates room for improvement of the country’s AI maturity level, in terms of the adequate human resources, digital infrastructure and legislative in this area. 

“One indicator where our country ranks relatively well compared to the other countries in the region, even to the EU countries, is the percentage of companies that use AI and big data analytics (nearly 13% of the companies use big data analytics, while almost 10% AI).  This indicates a potential for using this comparative advantage and maintaining the good export performance of the service sector in the future”, said the Governor Angelovska Bezhoska.

In the column, the Governor points to all possible risks, as an additional challenge for future performance of the Macedonian export sector, such as geo-fragmentation, worsened expectations for the German economy, as our main trading partner, as well as climate change.  The Governor highlights that the forthcoming period is full of challenges, to both economic policy makers and economic agents, as well as opportunities in case the companies manage to quickly and successfully adjust to the dynamic changes.

“There is a clear need for strengthening the productivity, which is significantly lagging behind more developed economies (to illustrate, the productivity of the domestic economy is around 50% compared to the average productivity of the EU countries), improving the competitive profile, following the technological development and new investments”, said the Governor Angelovska Bezhoska.