D&B: CROATIA'S INVESTMENT RISK MARK REMAINS UNCHANGED, PROFILE IMPROVED

ZAGREB, Aug 11 (Hina) - Dun&Bradstreet, one of the leading international agencies for business information and credit rating, has given Croatia a DB5a investment risk mark for August. To this mark, which has remained unchanged in relation to the three previous months, D&B analysts have added an improved investment profile mark for August. The improvement of the investment risk profile is a direct indicator of the development of Croatia's current rating, D&B representatives said recently. In its report for April this year, the agency first improved Croatia's investment risk profile and in May granted Croatia a better investment risk mark. Croatia's current investment risk mark - DB5a - is the best possible rating in DB5 category, which indicates a high risk area. However, representatives of Bonline company, D&B's representative for Croatia, said this assessment was actually the position from which Croatia could soon, probably at the end of this tourist season, climb to DB4 category of moderate investment risk. The latest economic indicators, D&B representatives said, show that Croatia is coming out of recession. This is confirmed by a four percent real growth rate of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the first trimester this year. The agency expects that Croatia's GDP will experience a two percent real growth rate this year. With the DB5a mark, Croatia remains ninth on a list of 24 central and east European countries. Hungary and Slovenia remain at the top of the list whereas Albania and Yugoslavia are at the bottom with an investment risk mark of DB7. (hina) rml