ZAGREB, April 11 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt at the beginning of this year decreased to below 11 billion US dollars, totalling slightly more than USD10.9 billion (10.924 billion) at the end of January.
ZAGREB, April 11 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt at the beginning of
this year decreased to below 11 billion US dollars, totalling
slightly more than USD10.9 billion (10.924 billion) at the end of
January. #L#
This is a decrease of USD 217 million in relation to the end of
December last year, reads the latest Bulletin of the Croatian
National Bank (HNB).
Although the foreign debt totalled close to 12 billion dollars in
the course of last year, it decreased significantly after the
payment of a short-term loan for the completion of the second round
of privatisation of the Croatian Telecom. In late December last
year the total debt amounted to USD11.14 billion, which was USD613
million less than last September, and this trend continued in
January.
The stagnation of the debt has been enabled by value adjustments.
The value of the foreign debt decreased by around USD450 million due
to an increase in the share of the euro in the debt and the
appreciation of the dollar in relation to the euro in the last
quarter of 2001.
The state accounts for around 45 percent of the foreign debt while
banks account for around 16.3 percent.
According to projections regarding the payment of the debt, Croatia
will have to pay USD1.54 billion of the principal amount and USD452
million of interest this year.
(hina) rml