ECONOMIC INDICATORS VERY UNFAVOURABLE IN FIRST TEN MONTHS

ZAGREB, Dec 16 (Hina) - Basic macroeconomic indicators of Croatia's economy were extremely unfavourable in the first ten months of 1999, said Ema Vadlja, an advisor to the President of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), at Thursday's assembly of the Chamber. The HGK President Nadan Vidosevic described the economic situation in Croatia as the most difficult so far in the country. Vadlja added that the industrial output in the first ten months of this year decreased by 2.3 percent in comparison to the output in the first ten months of 1998. This year, the industrial output dropped to the level registered in 1997. In relation to branches of industry, manufacturing which makes up 84 percent of the structure of the total industrial production, went down by 4.2 percent. The output fell in 20 branches and only eight branches registered an increase. Such trends directly affected Croatia's foreign trade, Vadlja said. The export of commodities dropped by 7.7 percent to 3.5 billion US dollars from the beginning of January to the end of October this year, she told the HGK assembly. In the last six months the export varied between 4.1 and 4.6 billion dollars, what Vadlja assessed as an exceptionally low and unsatisfactory level of the export. The import fell by 9.8 percent to 6.3 billion dollars in the same period, and the basic cause for such a fall in the import is decreased economic activities in Croatia. Tourism yielded better results than expected, while retail sales were marked by negative trends. Croatia's external debt totalled 9.1 billion, Vadlja said adding that its repayment would be carried out very difficulty in the coming three years, as its instalments are over $1.2 billion annually. The unemployment in October reached the rate of 20.1 percent, when 333,435 Croatians were on the dole. (hina) ms