Suker added that the draft budget would be on the agenda of tomorrow's government session.
Presenting the draft, the minister said, among other things, that the spending for pensions would increase to 24 billion kuna in 2005, a 1.2 billion kuna increase compared to 2004, and that the expenditure for salaries would rise by some 800 million kuna to 22.6 billion.
The government is planning to increase by one billion kuna its support to the Croatian Railways company, which can expect 2.8 billion kuna of budgetary funds, as well as support to capital investments in infrastructure, totalling 13.5 billion. Other government subsidies will rise by 1.2 billion kuna to 5.1 billion.
Presenting the Ivo Sanader cabinet's fiscal policy for 2005, the minister informed the conference of the basic features of the announced tax reform. Suker expects that the consolidated government deficit should be cut down from 4.5 to 3.7 per cent of Gross Domestic Product.
The minister also recalled that the government's decision to seek loans on the domestic market as well as the monetary policy of the Croatian National Bank (HNB) had resulted in a reduction of the external debt by 100 million euros in September this year. This made it possible for the central bank to start with operations on the open market at the end of this year, Suker said.
The HNB Governor, Zeljko Rohatinski, said the central bank's operations on the open market would also be part of the 2005 monetary policy which he said should be more sophisticated in methods of implementation but not less firm in basic orientations and goals than in 2004.
Rohatinski also reiterated that the HNB had never and would never maintain a level of the exchange rate of the kuna that was not based on market principles.