He was responding during Question Time in parliament to Domagoj Milosevic of the opposition Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), who asked what the government planned to do to stop the negative macroeconomic trends.
Milosevic particularly warned about the high unemployment and said the government wanted to downplay the fiscal rule.
The PM said "this crisis is marked by years of realistic and unrealistic expectations, but next year we expect growth," adding that in 2014 he would not listen to Milosevic's advice about the purchase of INA stock.
"The question comes from an MP who would borrow about three billion euros, which is the market value of the 49 per cent stake in INA. And then what? He would borrow several billion more for the company to be solvent and to invest where not enough has been invested," said Milanovic.
Milosevic criticised the government about the health care reform and the PM for ignoring state statistics. "To say that statisticians lie and make things up is the culmination of absurdity."
Suncana Glavak of the HDZ asked why the State Property Management Office had 25,000 cases pending, including those from local governments and potential investors, "when you are trying to sell off state property, when we have tax pressure to fill the state coffers, when we are raising taxes and when more and more people are unemployed."
The PM denied that the government was selling off state property. "You know exactly what we are selling, exactly under what transparent terms, we just don't know to whom yet, because we function differently than the HDZ. We are selling to those who meet strict and demanding terms. If these buyers can't be found, we won't sell."
As for criticisms that he ignored statistics, he said, "I admit, I don't watch statistics every day because I'm not a gambler but a prime minister."