OPATIJA SYMPOSIUM OPATIJA, Nov 12 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt was one of the topics discussed at an economic symposium that opened in the northern Adriatic resort of Opatija on Wednesday.
OPATIJA, Nov 12 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt was one of the
topics discussed at an economic symposium that opened in the
northern Adriatic resort of Opatija on Wednesday. #L#
Prime Minister Ivica Racan said that all relevant analysts had
assessed that the country's debt was not too high and that it still
did not pose an obstacle to further growth and development.
Croatia is rated as a moderately indebted country, and no one is
questioning our ability to pay off our debts, Racan said.
According to figures provided by National Bank Governor Zeljko
Rohatinski, Croatia's foreign debt totalled US$19.9 billion at the
end of September, and could reach $21 billion by the end of year.
The debt increase in the first nine months of this year was $4.6
billion in nominal terms or $3.4 billion in real terms (without the
effects of inter-currency changes), Rohatinski said.
Rohatinski said that about 70 per cent of the foreign debt increase
was directly caused by economic policies, adding that the
activities of the government, parliament and state institutions,
or the lack thereof, considerably led to demand for foreign loans.
Nearly half the foreign debt is under the government's control,
because a portion of the debt of business companies was incurred
with government collateral, while most of the debt of the
population was run up through the import of durable consumer goods,
the governor of the central bank said.
Rohatinski said that the increase in the foreign debt over the past
three years had been the result of an increase in investment and
stagnation in saving.
The leader of the main opposition party, the Croatian Democratic
Union (HDZ), Ivo Sanader, said that the competitiveness of the
economy should be increased through tax reforms, a reduction of
government spending and a more effective collection of taxes. He
added that the entire tax system should be restored to the system
that had been in force until 2000.
Commenting on Rohatinski's report, Sanader said that the lack of
respect for the monetary authorities led to inappropriate moves by
the government, which he said would be interpreted in democratic
countries as an attack on a country's economic system.
Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac said in his report that it was not
true that the executive authorities had not respected the decisions
of the monetary authorities.
Asked by a reporter to comment on Sanader's statement, Racan said
that if the HDZ's economic programme were to be implemented in the
forthcoming period, it would be to the benefit of the rich and at the
expense of the poor, and that as such it would not survive for long.
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