D&B: CROATIA APPEARS TO BE RECOVERING FROM RECESSION

ZAGREB, June 7 (Hina) - Croatia was given the credit rating DB5a for June, the same as for the month before when the country received the better mark for the credit rating for the first time in 19 months. The Dun&Bradstreet (D&B), a world leading business and marketing information provider, issued a report for June reading that it seems that Croatia is slowly going out of the recession. The first one hundred days of the new Government and its further moves confirm the justification of the D&B analysts' decision to improve the mark for business risks in Croatia last month, read the latest report. Considering some positive trends in the Croatian economy in the first three months of 2000 such as the growth in the industrial production and a rise in exports, the D&B predicts that the Gross Domestic Product (GNP) will increase by 1.5 percent this year or by 2.5 percent in 2001. Last month's report read that DB5a is the highest mark given to countries in the group of DB5, i.e. countries with high risk. The agency believes that after the end of this tourist season Croatia is likely to rise from the DB5 group to the DB4 for countries with moderate risk for investors. Croatia is still the ninth in the standings of a total of 24 central and eastern European countries covered by reports of the Dun&Bradstreet. (hina) mm ms