CROATIAN NATIONAL BANK ISSUES STATEMENT

ZAGREB, July 25 (Hina) - At its session of July 25, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing board discussed further cooperation between the IMF and Croatia, and decided to postpone, until further notice, the second instalment of a credit for the country, which was based on a three-year program of expanded cooperation, accepted in March this year, said a statement issued by the Croatian National Bank (HNB) on Friday. The postponement of the expected US$ 40-million credit instalment would not affect considerably financial circumstances in the country, as those IFM funds were earmarked for the strengthening of the external liquidity of Croatia, and Croatian foreign monetary reserves currently amounted to about 2.4 billion dollars on accounts of the central bank, whereas another 2,3 billion dollars were at commercial banks, the central bank said in the statement. This summer's increment of foreign exchange reserves should be added to the that, and it can be evident that the available funds have the amount approximate to the amount of current foreign indebtedness, according to the statement. All of this spoke of a favourable level of the external liquidity, the central bank said. Regardless of the IMF managing board decision, the basic task of the Croatian economic and monetary policy to stimulate the healthy and sustainable growth on the stable macroeconomic basis, and the commitment to accomplishing this aim by measures and instruments of the modern and open market economy remained unchanged, the bank said. According to the statement, Croatia's Central Bank and Government agree on this approach and are confident that the continuation of such policy will be useful, first of all to Croatia, and will also help continue the cooperation with international financial institutions. (hina) mš 252050 MET jul 97