D&B: CROATIA'S CREDIT RATING UNCHANGED

ZAGREB, Sept 5 (Hina) - Croatia's investment risk profile for September is characterised by August's approval by parliament of a new cabinet headed by Premier-designate Ivica Racan, and its credit rating has remained unchanged - DB4d with balanced trends, reads a report by the credit rating agency Dun&Bradstreet (D&B), carried by the Zagreb-based business information agency Bonline. #L# D&B analysts believe that Prime Minister Racan and the new government will succeed in implementing the set goals, including the reduction of unemployment and public debt, the improvement of export competitiveness, the speeding up of reform processes and the modernisation of the state administration. The vote of confidence in the government is positive for several reasons, says D&B. At a basic level, it will help avoid a reform- delaying early election. The government programme, reads the report, will strengthen Croatia's position in the world. However, since the programme is very ambitious and has long deadlines, it is little likely that it will be completed by the end of the incumbent government's mandate, in the next year and a half, reads the report. This is the reason why the positive expectations of the analysts could not be accompanied with an improved investment risk mark. DB4d, which has marked Croatia's investment environment for several months, stands for countries with moderate investment risk, but also includes significant uncertainty over expected returns. The D&B list of countries of Central and East Europe has for some time been headed by Hungary and Slovenia, which have the best investment risk mark - DB2d. They are followed by the Czech Republic, Estonia and Poland (DB3b). At the end of the list are Yugoslavia (DB6d), Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Georgia, Belarus, and Albania. (hina) rml