Nikola Kljusev

Nikola Kljusev Никола Кљусев
Nikola Kljusev as prime minister promoting the first Macedonian currency in 1992
1st Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia
In office January 27, 1991 – August 17, 1992
President	Kiro Gligorov
Preceded by	None
Succeeded by	Branko Crvenkovski
Personal details
Born	October 2, 1927 Štip, Kingdom of Yugoslavia
Died	January 16, 2008 (aged 80) Skopje, Macedonia
Political party	Non-partisan (while in office) VMRO-DPMNE
Religion	Macedonian Christian

Nikola Kljusev (Macedonian: Никола Кљусев) (October 2, 1927 – January 16, 2008) was a Macedonian academician and politician. Kljusev served as the first Prime Minister of Macedonia from January 27, 1991 until August 17, 1992, following the country's independence from the former Federation in 1991.

Nikola Kljusev was born in Štip, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, on October 2, 1927. He graduated from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Economics in 1953, before obtaining his doctorate in economics at the same university in 1964. Kljusev's doctoral thesis was "Criteria and Methods for Assessment of Economic Effectiveness of Investments".

Kljusev began his career in economic academia as an assistant at the Institute for Industrial Scientific Research. He later served as a researcher and director of the Economics Institute in Skopje. Kljusev also served as a professor and dean of the Skopje Faculty of Economics. Kljusev was elected to the Macedonian Academy of Arts and Sciences (MANU) in 1988 and remained at the organization until his death in 2008.

Nikola Kljusev served as the first Prime Minister of the Republic of Macedonia for 19 months in 1991 and 1992 after the split of the Federation. Kljusev is credited with ushering Macedonia through a largely peaceful transition to full inpendendence. Macedonia's independence was in sharp contrast to the violent wars that engulfed other nations of the former Federation such as Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, during the 1990s.