The next year draft budget earmarks additional 10.5% of funds for supporting the construction sector in comparison to 2012, Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski told reporters on Thursday.

Investments are being allocated for various infrastructure projects, such as railway network, local, regional roads and highways, he added.

"In the hard period of over four-year global economic and European debt crisis, we have paid special attention to supporting the construction sector, as it has a great number of employees and is being connected with other 26 branches - all of them engaging a large labor force," Gruevski said.

The Government's commitment to this sector has helped companies to survive and remain in solid condition to conquer foreign markets. The presence of Macedonian construction companies abroad has been higher for 147%, the PM said.

"This figure indicates that we have not only managed to help the companies, but also made them sufficiently competitive to operate abroad," the PM said.