Finance Minister: ‘Greece Debt Crisis Won’t Reflect on Croatia’

Croatia’s Minister of Finance Boris Lalovac has rubbished speculation in the media that the debt crisis in Greece would have a devastating effect for Croatia and its citizens….

“The situation in Greece will not reflect on Croatia because our banks are not exposed to Greek banks or the economy there,” the Finance Minister said when commenting on the possible consequences of the Greek crisis in Croatia to the media.

Whilst loans could become more expensive in the short-term, Lalovac explained that Croatian bonds depend on how they fulfill their requirements to Brussels, and that the crisis in Greece could even have benefits for Croatia.

“Where Croatia could possibly benefit is from traffic from Greek ports, which if they are not functioning the traffic could be moved to Croatian ports. We can show that our infrastructure can accept that kind of freight traffic,” he said, before adding that Croatian citizens should not be victims of the world’s currency manipulation.

Greece, which faces a deadline to repay a €1.6bn loan to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) today, could exit from the euro as it looks set to become the first developed nation to default on money owed to the IMF.