MACROECONOMIC STABILITY AND GROWTH DETERMINANTS OF THE REPUBLIC OF NORTH MACEDONIA

: This article addresses macroeconomic challenges and growth determinants of the Republic of North Macedonia. The overview of the Macedonian macroeconomic indicators in the period 2016-2021 serves as a basis for identifying the macroeconomics trends, as well as outlining the areas of poli-cy-making where outstanding risk-management would be necessary in the mid/ long term. The research indicate that major macroeconomic policy challenges relate to public debt management, budget deficit and inflation. The external shocks such as COVID-19, rising energy and food prices (as implication of the Russian invasion in Ukraine) have contributed the most to the imbalances. The GDP growth has been largely affected by the global development. In purpose of acceleration of the GDP growth, several issues must be addressed - low productivity; low rate of innovations and technological development; unfavorable structure of the economy: mismatch among the labour market demand and supply, as well as education which does not reflect the needs of the economy. The paper provides recommendations about policy outlook and actions necessary for improvement of the state of affairs in the mentioned areas.