If the authorities wait too long with the restructuring of the shipyards, the reduction of subsidies to shipbuilding and other sectors, and if the reduction of government expenditure and the deficit takes too long it will be as if they are taking from the future, he said.
Feldman said that members of the Mission noticed during talks that the Croatian authorities fully understood challenges facing them, and that time would tell to what extent they would be successful in dealing with those challenges.
He said that the present stand-by arrangement, which expires in mid-November, was successful, and that the only remaining commitment from it was the public offering of shares of the INA oil company, which is expected very soon.
Speaking at the end of the Mission's visit to Zagreb, which focused on Article IV consultations, Feldman presented the Mission's preliminary conclusions.
The Mission expressed concern over the proposed provisions of a new Privatisation Bill dealing with the planned employee stock ownership programme.
Feldman said that such generosity might reduce the interest of strategic investors and that generosity should be reduced so that strategic investors could show greater interest. He added that it was up to the government to decide how to achieve a balance between the two sides.
The right balance should be found and then decisions should be made on a case by case basis, Feldman said, telling reporters that he did not have precise figures as to the largest possible share of employees.
Responding to a reporter's remark that the IMF report cited only the privatisation of INA and not the privatisation of the shipyards, the Croatia Osiguranje (CO) insurance company and the Croatian Postal Bank (HPB), Feldman said that they generally encouraged the fastest possible privatisation.
I would not specifically comment on CO and HPB other than that their privatisation should be considered, he said.
Feldman mentioned the IMF's recommendation that the Croatian authorities should stay within the targets laid down in the Fiscal and Economic Policy Guidelines aimed at reducing the share of expenditure in GDP.
He said that the share of government spending in GDP in Croatia was nine to ten percentage points higher than in comparable countries of Central and Eastern Europe, adding that this showed that there was considerable room for saving.