Cover STORY
Cover STORY
Fall 2017 / Issue 55
Changing Investment Incentives & Legal Certainty
Tatjana Shishkovska , Attorney at Law , Junior Partner , Polenak Law Firm
During the last decade , the Macedonian government carried out an unprecedented and ambitious foreign direct investment (“ FDIs ”) attraction program , based largely on FDIs incentives granted through state aid mechanisms . Their approach was often accompanied with frequent , burdensome and tailored changes to the county ’ s legal and institutional framework . In recent years , the program fell under the careful scrutiny of some media and domestic companies . In fact , the state aid mechanism was generally perceived to lack transparency and real economic logic ( i . e ., the amount spent on attraction efforts and incentives vs . jobs actually created by new FDIs and benefits for the local economy ) and became a key campaign issue highlighted by the political opposition that took power this summer .
With an aim to address the issue of claimed discrimination against domestic investors , the new Government recently introduced a plan for economic growth and improving the country ’ s living
6 AmCham Macedonia Magazine