SUCCESSFUL BUSINESS PEOPLE TO BE GRANTED SIGNIFICANT TAX RELIEF

SIBENIK, June 8 (Hina) - Entrepreneurs who within two years achieve a 20 percent increase in employment and value of their capital will be given a 50 percent tax relief and those who achieve a 50 percent increase and more will be exempt from paying taxes for a period of ten years, said the Minister of Trades and Small and Medium Businesses, Zeljko Pecek. Pecek gave the statement at the Fourth national seminar on small businesses, which was opened at the hotel complex 'Solaris' in the central Adriatic town of Sibenik on Thursday morning. The event is attended by more than 500 business people. According to Pecek, small and medium businesses in Croatia are developing successfully. The European Economic Commission has included Croatia, which so far has been in the last category of countries in transition, into the first, leading group of countries which are experiencing major progress in the development of small and medium businesses, Pecek said. Participants in the seminar analysed measures for stimulating small and medium businesses in Croatia, which have been applied since 1997. According to Sanja Zelinski Matunec, an official at the Ministry, those measures have helped create 4,600 new jobs and secure some 24 billion kuna worth of loans for small and medium- sized entrepreneurs. (hina) mm rml