IMF NOT ASKING CROATIA TO URGENTLY CHANGE LABOUR ACT- MISSION CHIEF

ZAGREB, May 21 (Hina) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is not asking Croatia to urgently change the Labour Act, Hans Flickenschield, the head of the IMF Mission to Croatia, said on Wednesday after talks with the leaders of the country's union federations. #L# The IMF is not pushing the government to change the Labour Act and has not set any conditions concerning deadlines or institutes, Flickenschield told reporters, adding this was more within the World Bank's sphere. He said that if the proposed solutions were not good, one should not force the adoption of a new labour act at any cost but leave it to a future government. At the same time, he said the IMF had nothing against the new law being passed by July 1, as announced, and understood the government's desire to wrap this up within its term of office. The president of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions, Davor Juric, said today's talks focused more on Croatia's budgetary deficit and actions the central bank would take to curb the growth of loans. The IMF and the unions share the concern about Croatia's climbing foreign indebtedness, which may affect the status of the country's workers, said Juric. (hina) ha