Macedonia's prime minister said on Wednesday that the government had shelved plans to launch a long-delayed Eurobond this year but may instead tap global financing next spring, either through a bond or a bank loan with partial World Bank guarantee.
"It's probably not necessary this year but for next year, we'll need some financing due to the budget deficit," Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told Reuters in an interview in London.
That would take the form of either a Eurobond or a commercial bank loan with partial guarantee by the World Bank, he added.
Earlier this year, Macedonia drew 200 million euros from a standby precautionary line agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "If the markets are bad next year, we will not discount the possibility of drawing money from this framework (again)," said the former finance minister and trained economist.
Gruevski also said Macedonia's long-running dispute with Greece over the former Yugoslav state's name is far from resolved as Athens' ability to focus on the issue has been sapped by its sovereign debt crisis.