Proud of the success of the first auction for loans to assist companies, Prime Minister Kosor announced, during the opening of HBOR’s microcrediting conference, the imminent realization of the guarantee fund. The government is, in fact, adopting a Regulation on the implementation of guarantee measures today.
With the assumption of risk on the state’s shoulders, banks in this model of assistance should allocate at least four billion kuna. The head of HBOR, Anton Kovačev, hopes that the first auction for guarantees will take place in the second half of March. Kosor did not miss the opportunity to criticize the critics of government assistance. Despite negative expectations from analysts, the Prime Minister expects that the measure to revive the housing market will yield results.
Kovačev: The consortium approached us too late
In response to a question about whether they participated in negotiations with the consortium that was supposed to build the highway in Montenegro, Kovačev confirmed that they did, but only in the last month. – No one called us or asked anything, we did not participate in the initial negotiations or in closing the financial structure. The consortium only started talking to HBOR a month ago, and that is a completely different position than if we had been involved from the beginning. We tell all exporters and recommend that when it comes to a large project, HBOR should be included right at the start of negotiations – Kovačev stated. When asked if that is too big a bite for a bank with small capital, he replied that it is indeed a large project, but it is divided into individual phases, so initially, a guarantee for 124 million euros needed to be secured.
– In the government, we are confident that this will initiate a cycle of apartment sales, so we expect that around a thousand will be sold by the end of the year. This initiates a new cycle for builders. Be critical when necessary, but measures that can yield results should be supported. The latest data on industrial production shows that it is growing, having increased by 1.5 percent compared to January last year, and by as much as 5 percent compared to December last year. This gives us the right to claim that we have the strength and knowledge to pull ourselves out of the crisis. Out of ten ideas, perhaps one or two will survive, but we must give them a chance – Kosor assures.
