ZAGREB, Dec 8 (Hina) - The House of Representatives on Friday adopted with a majority vote a report by the Croatian Privatisation Fund (HFP) on the management of the state portfolio. Along with the report, the lower house also adopted
conclusions under which the government should by the end of January next year prepare a new privatisation law, whereas the HFP should by the same time prepare a programme of privatisation for companies from the state portfolio. Presenting the HFP report at the beginning of today's session, Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said efforts were being made to salvage 7,000 jobs in state companies in which bankruptcy proceedings had been initiated. The state is the majority owner of 841 companies. Their capital stock amounts to some 37.3 billion kuna and last year they suffered losses amounting to as mush as 4.3 billion kuna. Bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated in 321 companies which employ
ZAGREB, Dec 8 (Hina) - The House of Representatives on Friday
adopted with a majority vote a report by the Croatian Privatisation
Fund (HFP) on the management of the state portfolio.
Along with the report, the lower house also adopted conclusions
under which the government should by the end of January next year
prepare a new privatisation law, whereas the HFP should by the same
time prepare a programme of privatisation for companies from the
state portfolio.
Presenting the HFP report at the beginning of today's session,
Deputy Prime Minister Slavko Linic said efforts were being made to
salvage 7,000 jobs in state companies in which bankruptcy
proceedings had been initiated.
The state is the majority owner of 841 companies. Their capital
stock amounts to some 37.3 billion kuna and last year they suffered
losses amounting to as mush as 4.3 billion kuna.
Bankruptcy proceedings have been initiated in 321 companies which
employ about 11,400 persons. We are making efforts to restructure
some of them in order to save some 7,000 jobs, Linic said.
However, 60 companies have not been operating at all for quite some
time and exist only on paper. Unfortunately, the 4,000 people
employed with those companies cannot be saved, Linic said.
The remaining 520 companies are divided in two groups. The first
includes 181 companies, of which some are 'ripe' for bankruptcy but
the procedure has been postponed due to their importance for the
local community and there is a considerable interest in privatising
some of them, while another 60 are reserved for their previous
owners.
The other group includes 339 companies which have the chance to
survive on the market alone or with the help of the government. The
government has entrusted the HFP with preparing privatisation
programmes for those companies until the end of this year, said
Linic.
There are investors who are interested in those companies and the
privatisation process is expected to increase the effectiveness of
the entire economy and attract new investments which would open new
jobs.
By unifying the entire state portfolio a higher degree of
responsibility toward the state property has been achieved, which
will enable the successful completion of the privatisation of that
portfolio, Linic said.
In a debate that followed the presentation of the report, Social
Democratic Party (IDS) and Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS)
deputies supported the report stressing the government was doing
all it could to save between 40 and 60 percent of jobs in state
companies undergoing bankruptcy proceedings. They also supported
the proposal that a new law on privatisation be prepared as soon as
possible.
The opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) will not support the
report because it is non-transparent and inconsistent, said Dario
Vukic.
Tonci Tadic of the Croatian Party of Rights/Croatian Christian
Democratic Union (HSP/HKDU) bench objected that bankruptcy
proceedings had become dominant in the Croatian economy. He also
believes the policy of development cannot be conducted with the
policy of bankruptcy proceedings.
(hina) jn rml