There will be no more arbitrary approaches and favouritism in the process of allocating incentives, Enterprise Minister Gordan Maras told MP Djuro Popijac of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) on Friday in a heated parliamentary debate on a report on the work of the Croatian Agency for SMEs and Investment (HAMAG) for 2011.
Maras said that responding to Popijac's accusations that it was difficult to count everything the government had managed to ruin so far.
Croatia's credit rating has been downgraded to junk level, Popijac said adding that this was the result of the work of this government and government agencies.
HAMAG, whose job is to encourage the development of small and medium enterprises by providing guarantees for business loans, in 2011 approved 13 per cent less loans than in 2010. HAMAG granted 112 guarantees (77% of the application) amounting to slightly over HRK 150 million, which launched investments amounting to nearly HRK 500 million.
"The number of granted guarantees significantly increased in 2012 ... and what we are particularly happy with is the number of new investments has gone up," HAMAG Management Board director Darko Liovic said adding in 2012 a total of 51 guarantees were granted that in the segment of encouraging start-up entrepreneurs as opposed to 2011 when only 15 such guarantees were issued.
Liovic said the agency could have had an even better role in promoting small and medium enterprises in 2011, adding that he would refrain from commenting further on the work of the agency, as he stepped into office only in March 2012.
