"That, of course, doesn't mean that the same will happen in six months, that Moody's will do the same," he said on Croatian Television.

"But this is more than any government in Europe got to date. Nobody got a rating increase."

Asked if the government could do anything about oil products' prices, Cacic said the government objectively could not influence fuel prices but that at a certain moment it could respond with a suggestion or by reducing excise taxes.

Finance Minister Slavko Linic has mentioned the possibility of responding by reducing excise if the fuel price reaches HRK 12 because he does not expect the Iranian crisis and the oil situation to escalate to that level, said Cacic.

Asked what would happen if the government's investment plan did not work out, if GDP did not grow 0.8 per cent as expected by the government but fell two per cent as forecast by some bank analysts, Cacic said, "If the decline is two per cent, then we are absolutely responsible, then both I and the government have to take full responsibility" and that if GDP fell two per cent, he would leave the government.

He recalled saying recently that if by the autumn there was no optimism, an awakening of the economy and results from the current measures, he had no place in the government.

Cacic said investments were extremely important for headway and GDP growth, adding that the government wanted to raise investment in the public sector from EUR 1.2 billion to EUR 1.8 billion or possibly to EUR 2.4 billion.

"We are defining the legal framework, organisation and personnel... Next week we will know concrete projects, the pace, the people responsible," he said, adding that the government still had to define how to financially follow investment projects.

At this moment, big projects are not ready, for example energy projects such as Plomin, Ombla, Dubrovnik 2, Ernestinovo, he said.

"We have to work hard on that. But... at the end of this and the beginning of next year, when this begins, and we are talking about billions of euros, this will bring growth," Cacic said.

Asked about the appointment of Croatian People's Party member Zlatko Koracevic as management board chairman of the HEP power company, although he had no experience in the energy sector, Cacic said he was a manager.

"We don't need in HEP a man who deals with voltage and frequency but a man who can organise a first-class team of people who are experts in their fields," said Cacic, adding, "We need leaders, people who can carry out concrete tasks and gather people."

Asked if he sold his shares in the Coning company, Cacic recalled that he transferred ownership about 15 years ago and that he had ordered ownership restructuring when the result of the parliamentary election was becoming evident.

Asked about Vjesnik daily, he said it would go into receivership.