Primorac announced the possibility of salary payment to accounts and withdrawal of funds without fees

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Marko Primorac revealed that legislative amendments will stipulate the possibility of salary payment to bank accounts and the withdrawal of financial resources from accounts without fees.

In response to journalists’ questions at the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) ahead of the conference ‘Support for the Security and Defense Industry’, Primorac stated that the issue of bank fees ‘has been particularly concerning lately’.

He reminded that previous legislative solutions stipulated that salaries for citizens must be paid to accounts, thereby ‘de facto’ delegating a task to financial institutions, for which they determine the fees themselves.

– We believe that the unilateral determination of these fees for a delegated task is practically not good, and in that sense, we have been working very intensively, and I can now say that we will stipulate the possibility of salary payment to accounts and the withdrawal of financial resources from accounts without fees through amendments to the legislative framework – announced Primorac.

Additionally, in the context of financial literacy, it will be stipulated that banks must allocate a portion of their income for financial literacy projects, revealed the Minister of Finance.

Primorac also recently stated that discussions about fees are taking place at several levels, asserting that the fees charged by banks in Croatia are too high.

– There is no need to charge fees in that form, at those amounts, in that way, and generally to that group of users, including all citizens – said Primorac at that time.

Primorac does not want to comment further on food prices, but agrees that they are too high in some cases.

Given that he has a lot of work in his department, of which the announced changes are only a part, Primorac told reporters today that they should not expect him to comment on food prices anymore.

– All these regulations and changes require a series of activities, and you cannot expect me, with everything I am doing, to also deal with the prices of pork, lamb, and other products. That would really be, even for me who works a lot, a bit too much – he stated.

Overall inflation is currently at levels that are relatively acceptable, noted Primorac, but he also expressed a personal opinion that some prices are indeed too high and ‘we must do everything in our power to keep those prices as low as possible’.

– But the Ministry of Finance is no longer the right address for discussions on these topics – said the minister, who supports a more significant discussion in the public space about food prices and questioning all stakeholders, including retail chains and others active in that ‘production-business and sales cycle’.

In response to a journalist’s statement that traders argue that some products are more expensive in Croatia than abroad due to taxes, Primorac reminded that there are lower VAT rates for a number of products.

– But unfortunately, that reduction in rates has not resulted in lower prices – he said.