OPPOSITION SAYS PUBLIC DEBT ALARMING

ZAGREB, Sept 9 (Hina) - Croatia's total public debt is extremely worrying and dramatic, opposition and independent members of the Parliament's Economy, Development and Reconstruction Committee said on Tuesday discussing a government report on the national debt, the foreign debt and the balance of payments. #L# The public debt totals 96.4 billion kuna, which is 50.8 percent of GDP, Vesna Vasicek of the Finance Ministry said. It is estimated that the debt will account for a maximum of 52 percent of GDP next year, which is an acceptable level of indebtedness, she added. The total foreign debt (the debt of the state, banks and other sectors) in June amounted to 18.6 billion dollars, with the state debt accounting for 7.4 billion dollars, or 39.7 percent of the foreign debt. Ivan Penic of the Croatian Democratic Union and independent deputy Djuro Njavro say that the situation is dramatic. Njavro claims that Croatia has reached a stage of "debt slavery" and that the main characteristic of this and future governments' economic policies will be debt servicing. He considered it unacceptable for the country to see its foreign debt increase by two billion dollars a year, and proposed drawing up a crisis plan to tackle the problem of the foreign debt. Both opposition deputies and members of the ruling coalition believe that an increase in exports is the only way out of the situation. In a debate on the proposed budgetary revision, the opposition warned about the need to increase exports, but voiced dissatisfaction with budgetary funds being redistributed to the detriment of economic sectors. Ruling coalition deputies believe that the budgetary revision is necessary, and Marjan Marsic of the Croatian Peasant Party is satisfied that 400 million kuna has been secured through the revision to ameliorate the consequences of this year's drought. (hina) rml