New economic measures will be comprehensive and robust, Croatian PM says

Croatian PM Andrej Plenkovic (Photo: HINA/ Daniel KASAP)

ZAGREB, March 30 (Hina) – A new package of measures to boost the economy is expected by the end of this week and it will be comprehensive and robust and directed towards protecting entrepreneurs, workers and the private sector, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday after meeting with Zagreb Mayor Milan Bandic.

Plenkovic advised that the second package of measures for the economy is being prepared and that it should be ready for this week’s cabinet meeting.

The April package of measures will be comprehensive and robust, he said, and “will continue to be directed towards entrepreneurs, workers, protecting the private sector, and it will have a complete message about what we can expect in the economic and social sense in the months ahead of us.”

“When that package is entirely completed, when we agree on it first in the government and then through the process of consultations, we will present it to the public by the end of this week,” the prime minister said.

He assessed that the government had reacted promptly with its economic measures.

The first package, he said, was presented this month, “a month we will probably remember for a long time in the political sense, the economic sense and, unfortunately, in terms of the earthquake in Zagreb which pretty much turned around everything the government had planned and done.”

“The government reacted very quickly and many of those measures are already being implemented and have had a very good response by those they refer to,” said the prime minister.

He rejected the idea of establishing an economic crisis authority similar to the national civil protection authority and said that the government would establish a group of economic experts, people from the business world who can help the government and perhaps correct any possible measures that the ministries themselves did not come up with.

“We will listen, we will have an inclusive approach, but the responsibility and final decisions on moves regarding the economic policy is up to the government,” said Plenkovic.

Asked by reporters whether banks’ business would be facilitated via benefits so they can more easily finance and lend to citizens so consumption does not decline, Plenkovic said that everything that is being done to ensure the state’s financial stability and liquidity is not being done solely by the government but by the Croatian National Bank too.

“Respecting the independence of institutions, we will continue to jointly coordinate all activities, taking account of the banking sector too” concluded Plenkovic.