Finance Minister Lalovac discusses Swiss Francs with Croatian banks.
“I am not threatening with an empty rifle. The Ministry of Finance will soon launch a public debate on the Law on Bank Assets Tax. The fact that the elections will be held soon and that the parliament has been disbanded is not an obstacle. We will respect the procedure, and the public debate is a part of the procedure for the adoption of the law. As soon as the new government and parliament are constituted, my government will adopt this law, if by any chance the Constitutional Court annuls the conversion of loans in Swiss francs”, said finance minister Boris Lalovac after hearing the news that the banks have asked the Constitutional Court to determine whether the conversion is constitutional. Lalovac still hopes there will be no need for such legislative intervention, reports Vecernji List on October 2, 2015.
“If the Constitutional Court were to go against an unanimous decision of Parliament, I think that would be a precedent”, said the minister. The conversion will obviously be one of the hottest topics for the upcoming election campaign. However, things are changing a little bit. Lalovac met yesterday with the bankers, and one of the topics was the failed auction of treasury bills, which the banks used to show what would happen if they were to cease financing the state. Lalovac said he was satisfied with what he had heard yesterday.
“We should not be raising tensions. There should exist normal relations between banks and the state. I have received assurances there will be no difficulties with the new placement of treasury bills”, said Lalovac, adding that the banks should be aware that the state has a number of instruments which can use. One of the final measures might be switching of the state accounts to the state-owned HPB.
Talking with reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Lalovac said that banks were putting pressure on the exchange rate. “I have to admit that I cannot understand it, especially when we know that BAT has paid 500 million euros for TDR, so there is enough euros in Croatia. The question is why are they trying to change the exchange rate”, said the minister.
Experts explain that the demand for the euro was expected, and that the payment for the acquisition in the tobacco industry so far has a neutral impact on foreign exchange positions of banks, since the money is still in euros and has not been converted into kuna.
