Finance Minister Ivan Šuker today rejected the SDP’s anti-recession package, stating that in difficult times every idea is welcome, but the proposed measures would cost the state an additional 15 billion kuna.
"How to finance this, where and how much would it cost the citizens," Šuker asked at a press conference after the Government session. In response to the idea of recapitalization, Šuker replied that this would turn HBOR back into a parafiscal institution. "We are working on having HBOR independently borrow on the foreign market and use that money to finance projects in Croatia," said Šuker. Commenting on the SDP’s call for the state to borrow abroad rather than on the domestic market, Šuker replied that the SDP members do not listen to what is being said and that the Government has already announced that it wants to finance the deficit abroad.
He reminded that the state must refinance the debt incurred during the government led by the SDP this year. He emphasized that of the 8.5 billion euros of corporate debt that needs to be reprogrammed, 3.5 billion relates to bank debt, which will be easily refinanced with the help of parent banks, that three billion is the debt of companies in foreign ownership, and that the remaining approximately two billion kuna is mainly the debt of companies connected to the state, such as Hrvatske ceste, HEP, etc. "These companies have the same credit rating as the state, and the state will assist them in reprogramming," said Šuker.
