Macedonia’s real GDP growth slowed to 2.6% y/y in the second quarter from 3.2% y/y the quarter before, statistics office data showed. The country’s economy expanded by 3.8% in 2014.
The production approach breakdown shows that in Q2 the highest y/y increase of 13.8% was registered in the finance and insurance sector (+6.2% y/y in Q1). Manufacturing went up 2.3% y/y in Q2, reversing a 1.8% y/y decline in Q1. Construction climbed 6.2% y/y, accelerating from a 3.1% y/y rise in Q1. The annual contraction in agriculture deepened to 2.1% from 0.4%.
The breakdown across expenditure components shows that the deceleration of GDP growth was driven by gross capital formation, which contracted 7.6% y/y in Q2 after rising 1.3% y/y in Q1. On the other hand, final consumption grew 2.7%, speeding from a 1.9% y/y rise in Q1, driven by increased government spending.
We estimate that net exports had a positive contribution to real GDP growth in Q2. Exports growth decelerated to 7.4% y/y from 9.4% y/y in Q1 and imports growth slowed to 1.6% from 4.7%.
In nominal terms, Q2 GDP amounted to MKD139.9bn (€2.3bn).
| GDP, % y/y real | |||||||
| Q1'14 | Q2'14 | Q3'14 | Q4'14 | 2014 | Q1'15 | Q2'15 | |
| Gross Domestic Product | 3.3 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 2.7 | 3.8 | 3.2 | 2.6 |
| Final consumption | -0.4 | 3.1 | 1.0 | 2.7 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 2.7 |
| - Households | -0.1 | 3.8 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.0 |
| - General government | -1.7 | 0.0 | -5.2 | 1.9 | -1.2 | 0.9 | 5.8 |
| Gross capital formation | 31.0 | 8.9 | 19.1 | 1.8 | 13.5 | 1.3 | -7.6 |
| Exports | 14.2 | 15.9 | 15.2 | 22.4 | 17.0 | 9.4 | 7.4 |
| Imports | 14.8 | 11.5 | 14.3 | 17.4 | 14.5 | 4.7 | 1.6 |
| Source: Statistics office |
Related Articles
S&P upgrades ratings of Freedom subsidiaries to ‘BB-’
S&P Global Ratings has upgraded the credit ratings of several subsidiaries of Nasdaq-listed Freedom Holding, raising ratings on Freedom Finance, Freedom Finance Europe, Freedom Finance Global and ... more
Kazakhstan’s Freedom fintech sets out to emulate and exceed Revolut in Europe
Freedom Holding Corp (Nasdaq: FRHC) is positioning itself to expand deeper into Europe’s financial services market with plans to launch a digital bank in France, backed by a €500mn ($572mn) ... more
Fintech Freedom Holding aims to make France key entry point into EU with €500mn investment
A French banking licence would open the way to a new phase in the international expansion of Nasdaq-listed fintech group Freedom Holding Corp. That’s the expectation of Freedom, a company ... more