GOVT CONSENTS TO CRO RAILWAY'S SEEKING DM20 MILLION LOAN

ZAGREB, June 8 (Hina) - The Croatian government at Thursday's session gave its consent for the Croatian Railway (HZ) to seek a DM20 million loan from the foreign company EUROFIMA for the reconstruction of its vehicles and carriages. The government sent into parliamentary procedure several legal proposals including changes to the Law on Zoning and the final text of a bill on the 2001 census. According to Finance Minister Mato Crkvenac, the HZ will be granted a DM20-million-worth loan by EUROFIMA under very favourable terms. The loan has been granted for a period of ten years, with an interest rate of 5.6 percent, and is to be paid in the last year. Domestic production capacity will be used for the most part in the reconstruction of HZ vehicles and carriages. The government today also sent a bill on the population census and the listing of households and flats to the Sabor for the final confirmation. This extensive statistical job will be carried out on April 1-15 next year. The final text of the bill suggests that data on disability and its causes also be gathered during the census. The parliament will also be sent draft changes to the Law on the Croatian Guarantor Agency. According to these changes, the debt- service ratio, as a precondition for exercising the right to submit a guarantee request, should be increased from 60 to 80 percent, which would help in the development of small businesses. The government also granted a request by the Croatian Mine Action Centre that two million US dollars of budgetary funds be directed to the International foundation for mine removal and assistance to mine victims from Ljubljana instead of to the Croatian Mine Action Centre, which would result in assistance worth four million dollars the foundation would give Croatia. (hina) mm rml