ZAGREB, Aug 9 (Hina) - Deputy Premier Slavko Linic, Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac, the central bank's deputy governor Boris Vujcic, and the head of the International Monetary Fond (IMF) mission to Croatia, Hans Flickenschild, on
Thursday expressed satisfaction with today's talks and an agreement to keep the budgetary deficit at the present level. Flickenschild said one of the most important goals of the implementation of a stand-by arrangement, approved for Croatia in March, was to sustain the deficit of the Gross Domestic Product at the agreed 5.3 percent. After the agreement is examined by the IMF's technical service and approved by the IMF's management, it will be presented to the IMF's executive board, whereby the procedure concerning the stand-by arrangement will be concluded. The mission will return in October to again establish if Croatia is complying with its com
ZAGREB, Aug 9 (Hina) - Deputy Premier Slavko Linic, Finance
Minister Mato Crkvenac, the central bank's deputy governor Boris
Vujcic, and the head of the International Monetary Fond (IMF)
mission to Croatia, Hans Flickenschild, on Thursday expressed
satisfaction with today's talks and an agreement to keep the
budgetary deficit at the present level.
Flickenschild said one of the most important goals of the
implementation of a stand-by arrangement, approved for Croatia in
March, was to sustain the deficit of the Gross Domestic Product at
the agreed 5.3 percent.
After the agreement is examined by the IMF's technical service and
approved by the IMF's management, it will be presented to the IMF's
executive board, whereby the procedure concerning the stand-by
arrangement will be concluded.
The mission will return in October to again establish if Croatia is
complying with its commitments towards the IMF.
Finance Minister Crkvenac said the government was preparing
important measures to start this autumn to support employment,
economic growth, investments, export, new technologies and new
production programmes. A strong programme to fight grey economy,
which will considerably affect the budgetary revenue and economic
growth, is also in preparation.
He said the 5.3 percent budgetary deficit, agreed in the stand-by
arrangement, was high, but that it was Croatia's rather than the
IMF's problem. "We are obliged to keep the deficit within the said
boundaries to resolve our problems and because of our prospects.
This means we have to prevent some expenditures from exceeding the
frameworks we envisaged and becoming a threat to (the budget)", he
added.
According to Crkvenac, this will be accomplished by a budget
revision in the autumn which harmonises expenditure and revenue and
keeps the budget within boundaries.
Crkvenac said the agreed deficit was significantly lower than in
earlier years, i.e. 7.4 percent in 1999 or 6.3 percent in 2000. It
should drop to 4.25 percent in 2002. He added the government would
not give up the reforms but intensify them starting this autumn.
Boris Vujcic said the IMF delegation made a positive evaluation of
monetary policy which is aimed at maintaining stable prices. In
line with current data on an increase of retail prices by 3.8
percent, this goal can be achieved by the end of this year, he said.
(hina) np ha