Suker and Croatian National Bank (HNB) Governor Zeljko Rohatinski, who was leading the HNB delegation at the meeting in Washington, had met IMF Executive Director Joer Kremers, IMF European Department Director Michael Depper, and Robert Feldman, who is responsible for Southeast Europe.
"Kremers, who has been following and advising us for the past four years, and who is practically our representative at the IMF through the Dutch constituency, said that Croatia has made such progress that with its experience it can serve as a model for dealing with problems in other transition countries," Suker told Croatian reporters.
He said that the talks with Feldman and Depper had focused on macroeconomic indicators, fiscal consolidation and the foreign debt.
"The IMF representatives highlighted the problem of the foreign debt share in the GDP. The Croatian monetary authorities are taking action in this regard, while the government has slowed down the debt growth through fiscal measures," Suker said.
The Finance Minister said that the IMF officials had urged Croatia to prevent foreign borrowing from encouraging overspending and that they had brought attention to possible budget problems if the revenues, which were 14 per cent higher in the first quarter of this year than in 2006, should be converted into spending.
The IMF officials also commented on the measures being taken by the Croatian central bank to curb the growth of credit provided by foreign banks.
"This is where the views of the Croatian monetary authorities and the IMF differ a bit. It's up to the HNB and the IMF to analyse the situation and decide what to do. We should start to control the foreign debt growth a little bit more through fiscal policy," Suker said.
Commenting on the concern about the high foreign debt share in the GDP, which amounts to USD 29 billion and exceeds 80 per cent of GDP, Suker said that Croatia should exercise caution and take the necessary steps to stop further debt growth.
He, however, added that Croatia, as a country with good macroeconomic indicators and a successful economic policy, was properly servicing its debt, that it was not in a crisis and that it was not a highly indebted country.
Speaking of a large increase in foreign investment in Croatia in 2006, Suker said that Croatia had improved its business environment and that it was becoming more and more attractive to foreign investors. He added that he expected much greater interest of foreign investors this year.
Suker also said that during his visit to Washington he had arranged with US business people and the Croatian Embassy to launch the procedure for the singing of an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation between the United States and Croatia to boost US investments.