The president of the Croatian Labour Party, Dragutin Lesar, said at a news conference in Zadar on Saturday that balloon loans, proposed by the government and banks as a way of easing the burden of loan repayment on citizens who have taken loans pegged to the Swiss franc, were a burden that would eventually fall on citizens.
Commenting on the measures whereby the government and banks plan to help citizens who are having problem repaying their franc-pegged loans due to drastic increases in the value of the Swiss currency, Lesar said the proposed measures were not a long-term solution, calling for abolishing the currency clause and urging the Croatian National Bank to publish the currency structure of interest payable.
"That is the only way to see where and in which currency the banks borrowed money and how much extra profit they are making from the soaring exchange rate of the Swiss franc," Lesar said, adding that all loans should be converted to kuna loans without new bank charges. The kuna is the national currency and that is how national sovereignty is protected, said Lesar.
