Croatia

Croatia passed an emergency law on Thursday aimed at protecting the economy from big company failures as Agrokor, the country's largest private firm, seeks to resolve its debt crisis, the International New York Times reported. The centre-right majority in parliament approved the law, which will be implemented if Agrokor fails to reach a deal with banks and suppliers on a cash injection and restructuring.

Croatia's government is drawing up a law to protect the economy if a major company runs into trouble, Deputy Prime Minister Martina Dalic said on Friday. She said the law could be used for debt-laden food business Agrokor, a major employer whose creditors include Russia's Sberbank. She denied the legislation was being drawn up because of Agrokor's problems, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story.

The World Bank on Wednesday urged Croatia's new cabinet, likely to be formed this month, to act quickly to tackle fiscal imbalances and restructure public spending so as to draw more investment and boost persistent low growth. The international lender said growth over the next two years was unlikely to surpass this year's forecast 2.4 percent. Next year the bank expects it to fall to 2.0 percent before recovering to 2.4 percent in 2018. "Next year we expect a major effort in fiscal consolidation to affect growth ...

Croatia’s poorest citizens may start applying today to have their debt erased under a one-time measure passed by the government last month. About 60,000 people with low incomes whose bank accounts have been frozen for at least a year and whose debt doesn’t exceed 35,000 kuna (€4,500) can participate, according to the government’s website, the Irish Times reported. Applications are now open only to those who live on welfare, while debtors whose income is no greater than 2,500 kuna a month for a single person household or 1,250 kuna per family member may start applying on April 2.

Croatia's central bank on Wednesday ordered the liquidation of a small private bank, saying it had more liabilities than assets and had failed to meet supervisory requirements. "The central bank board has decided to propose opening bankruptcy proceedings for Nava Banka," the central bank said in a statement after a board meeting. The decision was taken after determining the bank had failed on three counts, it said.

Croatia may have to go straight into an EU disciplinary procedure when it joins the bloc in July and face an even tougher haul than its ex-Communist peers in adapting to free market pressures, Reuters reported. Croatia will become the European Union's 28th member state and only the second entrant, after Slovenia, of the republics that emerged from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s. Croatia may have to go straight into an EU disciplinary procedure when it joins the bloc in July and face an even tougher haul than its ex-Communist peers in adapting to free market pressures.