The EC commended Croatia for successfully completing the stand-by arrangement and suggested the government sign a new one.
Delegation spokeswoman Mirela Rasic told Hina by e-mail that although this was not an obligation within the process of accession to the European Union, the EC suggested the government be informed that a new arrangement with the IMF would serve as a precautionary measure in the pre-accession stage.
Rasic said the experience of former candidate countries showed that they benefitted from the IMF's expertise as part of arrangements that had been used as precautionary measures.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said earlier today Croatia would not sign a new deal with the IMF after the completion of the current one on November 15 and that it would base further contacts with the Fund on Article IV.
He said the IMF's opinion that Croatia had achieved the arrangement's objectives confirmed Croatia's maturity and that it could run its economic, fiscal and monetary policy on its own.
The IMF Executive Committee said on Tuesday it had completed a third review of the stand-by arrangement with Croatia without formal discussion.