Cost of living in Macedonia

Im Russian living in Serbia. I dont know waht is cost living in Makedonia, but I have been in all former Yugoslavian states, and my opinion in that Makedonia is the most cheapest.

You can eat sanweech or pizza in the fast food for 2 euro. Bear is about 1 - 1.5 euro depending on place.

I am an Englishman living in Macedonia.  When I first came here the rate of stirling to Euro made Macedonia seriously good value for people with pounds.  Now the Euro is close to the pound it is not quite the bonanza that it was at that time. However, the cost of living here is far far less than the cost of living in London.  Even after being here for quite some time I am still pleasantly surprised just how little it costs to eat out etc.  In terms of living expenses, rents are around a 20-30% of those in greater London.  Telecommunications in particular is surprisingly expensive and dont expect an internet service equivalent to your UK service for a similar price. Connection speeds are ok in the main cities and more importantly seem to b quite consistent but the types of services you can buy from the local companies are still some years behind much of the rest of Europe.  Its possible I am making more of this than is important to many people as I have worked in senior management roles in major IT corporations for 17 years and old habits die hard hehe. Power seems to cost slightly more than the UK. about 15-20% if you had an optimum deal in the UK or around the same if you were a British Gas customer.  However telecommunications and Power aside, Macedonia is fantastic value with a cost of living that would allow even the average Brit to live very well indeed. There are many advantages here for people such as myself either relocating or investing in new business opportunities in many sectors. Like anything else, make sure you do your research first.

Update.

Its been quite some time since I posted my last message here and as with many things in life a little time brings a little more learning.

I have 3 key aspects of living and operating a business out of Macedonia which I would share with my fellow Brits as important areas to consider if your considering moving or particularly investing here.

1.  Customs and Duty.  Getting anything valued (or believed to be valued) over 350 Euro into Macedonia via couriers or shipping results in taxes and expense you probably wont be aware of.  Not being Macedonian makes no difference at all, there is no "duty free" here for anyone and they will charge you regardless of your nationality. On top of this the import process itself a whole mini industry has evolved to get your goods into Macedonia.  You will need an import agent to deal with the authorities and you will be hit with charges that could very well double the price of your product.  Macedonians are a captive market for this reason. No low cost internet shopping for them.  I have found typically I pay another 100 pounds on top of any 350 pound order.  This can be much more however and this is one of the hidden costs of living in Macedonia

If you are involved in IT or wish to open an IT company here this can be a serious consideration. The tax implications of getting equipment into the company are a challenge however there is also the time factor of dealing with the authorities to consider. Macedonia, in general is a far more laid back place (one of the attractions of living here) but this is obviously not desirable in business terms.  Expecting key servers or IT infrastructure to turn up could be extremely frustrating.  The customs authorities are a law unto themselves and proceed at their own pace, not because they are being difficult (They are actually pretty nice people in most cases) but because they are working in an very difficult environment which seems to be extremely confusing even to those that work there.  Forget asking for a documented process, cost structure or a transparent price structure. The whole customs process is a black art that is so badly designed and poorly published that its wide open to corruption.   Personally this was one of the reasons I abandoned plans to open a call centre here quite early on.  You cannot under estimate this if your planning any business. If your wife likes online shopping (mine did) you might want to consider a bit of re education about that.  You could get old waiting for the latest kitchen gadget or gizmo to turn up and loose the will to live if you have to deal with customs on a regular basis haha.

2.  Technology Shipping Laws.  Laws and regulations exist in some countries such as the USA to prevent technology products being sent to Macedonia.  You will find that services you were familiar using in the UK to purchase anything like routers, networking equipment or simply home PC parts and components will not be allowed to ship products Macedonia.  For similar reasons many of the latest products and components are often simiply not available in country. 

3.  Banking.   I could write pages on this. I have a number of businesses in other countries as well as the UK.  None of them require me to be present in that particular country full time in order to carry out routine banking.  Macedonia has an extremely archaic banking system.  Investment here requires you to give someone authorisation to do the banking on your behalf or to be here full time yourself, every task requires you to physically fill in multiple pieces of paper! (I am not joking by the way).  Needless to say, this puts off many investors.  Few investors wish to live here full time or give a local power of attorney / authority to do their banking.  The majority of investors I have met here have decided not to proceed due to this limitation. For others I am now acting on their behalf here. For most people the ability to conduct affairs remotely (particular the international banking aspect) is a potential show stopper. It would be for me if I hadnt decided to stay here. I also have a member of my close family with power of attorney when I am out of the country.

Macedonia still has a lot going for it, low taxation, low infrastructure costs and available work force.  But the 3 issues I mention above have been extremely serious barriers to investment for many of my own partners, former colleagues and peers and it is good to consider how you will overcome these issues (if indeed they will affect you) before spending time and money building a business here.  Amazingly despite Macedonias bid for international investment there has been no investment or improvement in any of these areas in the time I have been coming here so I dont envisage these barries being removed for some time to come.