CROATIAN GOVERNMENT ANSWERS PARLIAMENTARIANS' QUESTIONS

ZAGREB, March 20 (Hina) - The Croatian Government, on Thursday officially responded to a question of a member of Parliament, Marko Miljevic of the Croatian Peasants' Party (HSS), about the wheat import in 1996 and to a question of a member of Parliament, Bozo Kovacevic of the Croatian Social and Liberal Party (HSLS), about funds which the UNHCR had delivered to the Croatian Government office for displaced persons and refugees. At a House of Representatives session in February, Marko Miljevic said that about 600,000 tonnes of wheat had been bought in 1996, which was sufficient for the state's needs. And he raised a question why Croatia had imported wheat since then. The reply prepared by Economy Ministry, said that 741,235 tonnes of wheat had been produced last year, according to figures by the State Bureau of Statistics. Rather high prices, which were guaranteed, motivated producers to sell wheat during the harvest, and that's why warehouses were 'flooded with' great amounts of wheat, and the Government decided to export surpluses. It led to that bigger amounts of wheat were exported, and a new wheat deficit appeared on the Croatian market. According to figures by the Bureau of Statistics, 249,629 tonnes of wheat were bought last year, 136,669 tonnes were exported and 11,022 tonnes were imported, the reply said. The Government also officially responded to the question of Bozo Kovacevic of HSLS, which he had posed at a House of Representatives session on 26 February. Kovacevic asked why refugees in Croatia had not received a bonus from funds which the UNHCR sent to the Croatian refugee office on December 12. He said that the UNHCR had paid 2.6 million dollars on the account of the office, and that 2 million of it had been earmarked for refugee bonuses. The office for displaced persons and refugees prepared the reply which said that new registration of all displaced persons, refugees and returnees had not been finished yet. The payment of bonuses should begin after the end of the new registration in the second half of March. The reply said the funds earmarked by the UNHCR were special- purpose funds, and that each of 165,000 refugees in Croatia could get 80 kuna (US$ 13.3). It also stressed that costs of accommodation of refugees in two biggest refugee camps in Gasinci and Obonjan, where 4,900 refugees were living, amounted to more than 4 million kuna (about US$ 667,000) monthly and that the Croatian Government's office had to cover them. (hina) jn mš 201805 MET mar 97