Investment guarantees for German Investors in North Macedonia
Johannes Heidecker
Economic advisor, connecting 🇪🇺 businesses to 🇲🇰 North Macedonia 🇲🇰 and the West Balkan region.
To encourage national companies to invest abroad, most countries have set up a guarantee system. For Germany to diversify the investments, North Macedonia has been placed recently in a list of countries which enjoy more favorable conditions.
The incentives are
Note: the OECD country risk of North Macedonia is 5.
The guarantee insures the political risk, eg. if a company loses an investment due to a government decision.
The guarantee mechanism for Germany is handled by PwC (see Federal Investment Guarantees). Similar mechanisms exist for other countries like Austria (ÖKB), Belgium (Credendo) or France (Tresor).
North Macedonia, together with Albania the only NATO member in the Western Balkans, enjoys a relative stable political situation in the region. Other reasons for foreign investors are an availability of qualified workforce higher than in other countries of the region - the unemployment rate still > 10 % -, competitive investment incentives and the offer of TIRZ, prepared investments zones with available real estate for production units. Other companies create their service and IT centers in North Macedonia, while still others use the sourcing possibilities in a country that is close to the Greek ports and connected to the European highway system.
Several large German investments have been made in the country, starting with Deutsche Telekom, Gerresheimer, Kostal, Kromberg & Schubert. An investment of BMZ, a battery manufacturer, has recently be announced.
More information:
Fact Sheet with process explanation (in German, example: Austria)