GOVT TOOK OVER RESPONSIBILITY FOR ECONOMY AT POINT OF RECESSION

ZADAR, Oct 29 (Hina) - Croatian Labour and Social Welfare Minister Davorko Vidovic said Sunday the Government had taken over responsibility for the Croatian economy at a moment when it was in recession. "We are not using the situation as an alibi, but a challenge which needs to be looked in the eye. The Pension Fund was exploited as a self-service for moguls, where it was robbed and used at will. Such practice is now over," Vidovic said at the 21st session of the pensioner association of Dalmatia Sunday. During the rule of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), taking last year as an example, 82,000 people were retired, as opposed to this year when only 11,000 people have been retired, putting an end to the over-retirement practice, Vidovic said. Healthy and capable people must primarily be provided conditions for work, he asserted. Vidovic presented a new draft law on pensions and the pension insurance system. The Government had been aware that it would not be able to easily keep its promise of payment of debts to pensioners, but has concluded that it was for the best if the debt of about 42 billion kuna (about US$4.66 billion) be included in the basic amount of pensions, and in line with the idea a new bill on pensions was drawn up. At this moment we can only pay back 2,000,200,000 kuna (US$222.3 million) annually, but those retired by 1994 can count on greater amounts, he said. (hina) lml