PM: Croatia’s “Junk” Rating No Cause For Panic Or The IMF

Croatia’s Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said it is not a catastrophe, nor is there any need to panic after Credit Ratings Service Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit ratings on Croatia to “junk” from ‘BBB-/A-3’ to ‘BB+/B’ on Friday, citing insufficient reforms.

“The situation is difficult and extraordinary, but not panic and catastrophic. We did not do everything that the investment houses expected from the government, and that is to make cuts on all sides, and then – if there is growth, good, and if not, who’s to blame. There is another side to the story, and that is the Croatian civil and social rights. I think that after the visit to Brussels last week, where we had a nice talk, they now understand a little better what the situation is,” said Milanovic on Sunday.

“It was expected that we lowered salaries and let go 25,000 workers, those are the kind of structural reforms some agencies are thinking of. We do not, we are thinking about how to organise a system of business, a land registry, strategic investments, to remove certain economic levies economy, and that is what we are working on. When someone else runs our politics then we are not a nation anymore. We respect the credit agencies rating, but we are doing it our way,” said the PM, adding that at the current moment Croatia does not require help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).