The US Agency for International Development (USAID) gave a grant of more than 5.1 million US dollars to five Macedonian non-governmental organizations for projects fostering entrepreneurship and energy efficiency in Macedonia.

“Since 1993, the US government invested over a billion dollars in Macedonia. Half of that money was realized through the activities of USAID for creation of jobs, cracking down on corruption and preparing Macedonian students for the labor market of the 21st century,” US Ambassador Philip Reeker said.

He stressed that the Macedonian non-governmental organizations competed against many organizations from other countries in getting funding for these projects. The Ministry of Economy too is going to allocate money this year for carrying out similar programs through domestic NGOs, foundations, business centers and incubators.

“The small and medium businesses in Macedonia are a very important sector considering they account for 95 percent of the total number of registered firms and bearing in mind that 80 percent of the total number of employees work for them. They create some 50 percent of the Macedonian GDP. It may sound like a paradox, but during the global economic crisis in Macedonia, some 17,000 small and medium were opened in Macedonia,” Economy Minister Fatmir Besimi said.