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Article: Feature -- Monitoring Macedonia.
- Article from:
- United Press International
- Article date:
- October 18, 2001
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 United Press International. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SKOPJE, Macedonia, Oct 18, 2001
Close to 500,000 Macedonians -- about one quarter of the population -- live under the poverty line in a country where the average monthly salary is less than $150.
More than 1 in 3 members of the workforce are unemployed. With inflation up 5.5 percent in the last 12 months and taxes -- borne disproportionately by the poor and the working class -- at 37 percent of gross domestic product, life is tough in this small, landlocked country.
When faced with the choice between raising value-added tax from 5 percent to 19 percent on bare necessities (such as bread and milk), or extending the "temporary" "war" tax (0.5 ...