Ivanov talks about economic growth that is simply nonexistent
Not only Macedonia didn’t have the highest economic growth rates in 2009 and 2012 or ranked in the European top achievers, but its economy decreased in these two years in particular
Not only Macedonia didn’t have the highest economic growth rates in 2009 and 2012 or ranked in the European top achievers, but its economy decreased in these two years in particular
Last week, the President Gjogje Ivanov gave an interview for the Croatian national television. Here’s the part of the interview we would like to check in terms of its truthfulness:
IVANOV: “Without being a member of NATO and the EU, in times of the greatest global economic crisis that began in 2008, Macedonia showed… Macedonia had economic growth, the highest… among the highest in Europe.”
JOURNALIST: “How high?”
IVANOV: “Something above 4 percent”
(Source: HRT/Makedonija24, date: 7 April 2017 – 32:16 – 32:34 in the video)
EXPLANATION:
First, let’s see if Macedonia really had an economic growth which is “the highest… among the highest in Europe”. Truthmeter has already written on this topic, and in that article, when we checked a similar statement of the former finance Minister Zoran Stavreski, the comparative data of the International Monetary Fund have shown that the aforementioned is not true. Not even close.
As we can see, not only Macedonia didn’t have the highest economic growth rates in 2009 and 2012 or ranked in the European top achievers, but its economy decreased in these two years in particular. It’s sufficient to mention that when your economic growth is on the 15th or 16th spot in Europe, you simply cannot say that such economic growth is among the highest in Europe.
Later on, the President says that during the global recession, “that began in 2008” the economic growth was “something above 4 percent”. This is also false. The infographic below clearly shows that in the period of 6 years after the economic crisis began, from 2009 to 2014, Macedonia’s economic growth never reached even the vicinity of 4 percent, not to speak of being “above 4 percent”.
To make things more clear, the economic growth in 2008 was 5.5%. However, this growth had nothing to do with the global recession, because it was result of the economic movements prior the recession. The economic crisis’ impact on the global economy was felt in the last quarter of 2008, while we felt the consequences at the beginning of 2009, when the growth went from 5.5% to -0.4%. Furthermore, the fact that Ivanov says “something above 4 percent” shows that he doesn’t refer to 2008. When somebody thinks of 5.5%, one simply doesn’t say “above 4 percent”.
SOURCES:
- Truthmeter – Ставрески: Која е вистината за македонскиот економски раст во време на владеењето на ВМРО-ДПМНЕ – 09 March 2015, (Accessed on 18 April 2017)
- Interview – Иванов за ХРТ: Заев влезе во туѓа игра од која сега не може да излезе – 07 April 2017, (Accessed on 18 April 2017)
- IMF – World Economic Outlook Database, October 2014, (Accessed on 18 April 2017)
- NBRM – Основни економски показатели, 18 April 2017, (Accessed on 18 April 2017)
Assessed by: Vladimir Petreski
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