There are no plans to raise the retirement age, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski said answering a journalist question after a promotion of 68 new double-decker buses in Skopje.

"With all anti-crisis measures that are being taken and with ongoing reforms, we believe we don't need to change the current situation and to raise the retirement age," Gruevski stated.

He elaborated that almost half of the countries in Europe in the past three years had been forced to increase mandatory retirement age to 67 or 68 years as a result of the global economic crisis and Europe's debt crisis. "This was the case in EU members and in some Balkan countries."

Macedonia, the PM said, has emerged less scared than European countries from the several consecutive crises since 2008, caused by surging oil and food prices, the global economic crisis and debt crisis in Europe.

"We have had extremely sound macroeconomic policies and a stable macroeconomic situation, the Denar is stable. Macedonia, in macroeconomic point of view, emerged with as few scars as possible amid an extremely difficult period for Europe and the world," the PM noted.

Europe, he added, has been facing severe consequences. Unlike Macedonia, European countries saw paycuts in administration, lay-offs, closure of banks and companies, boost in unemployment rate, etc...

Commenting his recent trips to India and Malaysia to present Macedonia's investment opportunities, PM Gruevski said he expected part of the business projects to be realised after couple of years.

"Nearly 350 companies in India and about 70 in Malaysia have had the chance to learn about Macedonia's advantages for opening a business. The presentations were attended by companies that are interested in entering the European market. Separate meeting were also held with some of the companies on their request," Gruevski stated.