CRO LOWER HOUSE PASSES STATE BUDGET

ZAGREB, March 23 (Hina) - The Croatian National Sabor's House of Representatives on Thursday evening with the majority of votes adopted the state budget for the year 2000, amounting to 48.3 billion kuna (DM12.075 billion). The final bill on the execution of the state budget was also passed by the majority of the vote. During the entire day, the Croatian Government and representatives voted on over 600 amendments of which the majority was not passed by the Government. According to representatives of the Government, the amendments were either included in Government's amendments or were not passed due to a difficult economic situation. On the other hand, the Government reorganised the budget for about 0.5 billion kuna (DM125 million) by its own amendments. "We could not pass amendments which would exceed these frames", Croatian Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac said. Eighty representatives voted for the passing of the budget, while 21 representatives restrained themselves from voting. After the voting, Crkvenac thanked representatives on behalf of the Government for the creative atmosphere during the discussion and the adoption of the budget. The House of Representatives is to continue its second session on Friday. (hina) it