(Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 34/01, 49/01, 103/01, 51/03, 81/08, 24/11, 135/11, 188/13, 97/15, 153/15, 23/16 and Official Gazette of the Republic of North Macedonia No. 110/21)

The existing Law on Foreign Exchange Operations was adopted in 2001, on the basis of which a whole set of bylaws was adopted. This Law includes certain regulatory limitations on the movement of the capital to and from abroad, which are usually covered by the term “foreign exchange regime”. This Law specifies several competent authorities for monitoring the enforcement of the Law and for taking measures in the respective areas, as follows: The National Bank which performs on-site supervision over the operations of banks, savings houses and exchange offices to which it has issued an operating license, as well as off-site supervision also of the other residents on the basis of the obligations for notifications provided for in this Law, the Ministry of Finance - State Foreign Exchange Inspectorate which inspects the operations of residents and non-residents that perform activity on the territory of the country, the Customs Office which conducts inspection of the taking out of and the taking in the country of cash domestic and foreign currency, checks and monetary gold by residents and non-residents, the Ministry of Economy and the Securities and Exchange Commission (supervisory authorities).

Payments to abroad on the basis of current transactions (predominantly import of goods and services) are free, but in order to prove grounds and obligation for payment abroad, the resident shall be obliged to present to the bank a prescribed document in accordance with the Instructions for the manner of performing the international payment operations (available only in Macedonian). Payments from abroad on the basis of current transactions are mainly free, whereby the bank should hold correct information on the grounds of the inflow.

Most of the capital transactions, such as credit operations, direct investments, investments of non-residents in securities and in real estate are also free. The official entry of our country to the second phase of the Stabilization and Association Agreement - SAA (Announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the “Decision on transition to the second phase of association between the Republic of Macedonia and the European Community and its member states” (Official Gazette of the Republic of Macedonia No. 17/19), enabled further liberalization of capital transactions and created greater investment opportunities for both natural persons and legal entities, as well as a greater degree of integration of the domestic financial market with the international financial markets. Namely, pursuant to Article 59-b paragraph 1 of the Law on Foreign Exchange Operations, the bans that existed until then, and which referred to the investments of residents, legal entities and natural persons in real estate and in securities abroad, were removed by right of a law. This means that the transition to the second phase of the SAA allows residents to freely invest in securities and real estate abroad.

Residents should be careful when investing abroad on these bases, and their decisions to invest in the foreign financial markets should be based on numerous information as a basis on which they will found their expectations. Therefore, it is assumed that residents, and especially natural persons who will decide to invest abroad, are well-informed about the potential effects and consequences of their decisions, that they have established clear expectations about the yields and the level of risk, and that they are familiar with their tax liabilities. Residents should take into account and observe any obligations arising from the Law on Foreign Exchange Operations relating to registration of and reporting on transactions with securities and real estate abroad.

Two more bans remain in force until the completion of the second phase of the SAA. Thus, the ban of residents to invest and trade in investment gold abroad determined by Article 22-a of the Law remains in force, as well as the ban from Article 23 of the Law, which according to the experience of most European countries is liberalized with the entry of the country to the EU, which is the ban on opening and holding accounts of residents abroad (except according to certain exceptions that are regulated by the Decision on the manner and the terms under which residents that are not authorized banks may open and hold accounts abroad). 

Decisions from the area of foreign exchange operations

Manuals/Instructions from the area of foreign exchange operations

Q&A from the area of foreign exchange operations (available only in Macedonian)