Those concrete moves are expected to help reduce the deficit and unemployment, he told the "Croatian Economic Policy in 2007" conference in Opatija.
The new law on privatisation will introduce organised employee stock ownership plans and workers will be able to buy shares worth 25 per cent of the stock capital, with a minimum 25 per cent discount, Polancec said, adding that employee stock ownership plans could be applied in the majority of the 897 companies in the state portfolio.
He said that loss-generating companies and those depending on subsidies and guarantees, notably in metallurgy, would be restructured and privatised, as would be the shipbuilding industry.
Transport and Development Minister Bozidar Kalmeta said the government would soon consider a five-year plan for the building and maintenance of the rail infrastructure, an investment worth some 15 billion kuna.
Kalmeta said Croatia's road infrastructure was nearly completed, while the rail infrastructure was old, with no money invested into it.
Croatia has to develop two transport routes -- corridors Vb and Vc -- which in the future could transport part of the cargo from the Suez Canal, he said. The introduction of intermodal transport, which is also the European Union's policy, will transfer traffic from congested roads to railways and ports, so Croatia must complete its port development projects, renovate railways and build a new railway from Rijeka to Zagreb, he added.
Ivan Lovrinovic, a professor at the Zagreb School of Economics, said it was necessary to change the goals of the economic policy and the monetary system, reduce the need for foreign capital and develop public-private partnership. He also recommended investing five billion euros in a baby boom.
The three-day event in the northern Adriatic resort of Opatija began yesterday, gathering about 400 scientists, experts and representatives of the executive authority. It was organised by the Croatian Economists' Society.
(EUR1 = 7.33 kuna)