It is time tourism was included in exports as figures would be different also in terms of GDP, exports and imports, Sanader said at the three-day 13th conference on Croatia's economic policy in 2006 which opened in Opatija on Wednesday.
Sanader said EUR7.5 billion was expected from this year's tourism earnings and that if tourism was included in exports, the import-export ratio would be different, with exports possibly 50 or 70 per cent higher.
The PM underlined that an agreement would have to be reached sooner or later on whether to include the grey economy in GDP once Croatia joined the European Union or before.
He recalled the grey economy was a category based on which money was withdrawn from EU funds and that Slovenia had to increase its GDP 20 per cent after including the grey economy.
Speaking of tax issues, Sanader said the question was how to present the tax system to foreign investors in an easily comprehensible and acceptable manner.
"We are at a crossroads. Your suggestions whether to go for a flat tax rate or not, please."
The PM also commented on comparisons of Croatia with other transition countries, underlining that such comparisons omitted the fact that Croatia had gone through a war.
He said nine billion kuna would be set aside in next year's budget and through other institutions to deal with direct and indirect war damage, and wondered what could have been done with all the money earmarked for that purpose in recent years.
Sanader reiterated that the draft national budget for 2006 was ambitious, with the ambitious demand to cut the deficit to 3.3 per cent of GDP. He dismissed possible objections that this would be to the detriment of investments, saying that 14 billion kuna would be earmarked for them next year.
The PM conceded the government had not managed to cut the external debt, but said it did manage to curb its high growth. He added the external debt's 82 per cent share in the GDP would fall below 75 per cent if the GDP included the grey economy.
(EUR1 = 7.4 kuna)