Speaking at a government session, both Sanader and Suker said that it was contradictory that Croatia, ranked second in Europe and seventh in the world according to reforms, should move up only ten places on the World Bank list on business conditions.
In the latest World Bank report Croatia ranks 124th among 175 countries according to business conditions, and last year it was 118th among 155 countries.
Croatia was not satisfied with last year's World Bank rankings either, so the Bank had to change them slightly, the PM said.
In its letter to the World Bank, Finance Minister Suker said that Croatia had carried out a number of reforms over the last year, starting with the Hitro.hr service, which he said had significantly reduced the number of steps needed to start a business.
Suker also objected to the World Bank's methodology of making reports, adding that respondents taking part in opinion polls, primarily law firms and similar businesses, also voiced their frustrations, and advised them to give less biased statements about their country.
One cannot say that obtaining a construction permit in Croatia takes 700 days, Suker said.
Sanader and Suker were speaking about the World Bank report in the context of the government's approval for the Croatian Power Industry (HEP) to seek a 24 million euro loan from the World Bank for a heating project, which Suker said was one of the government's reforms.
The loan will be used to finance the reconstruction of the heating networks in Zagreb and Osijek and for consulting services which envisage the drawing up of a cost management programme. Technical indicators in the EU heating systems currently have values that are twice better than in Croatia.
The loan for the HEP will be repaid over a period of 15 years, with a five-year grace and an interest rate of 3.1 percent.