The Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) believes that the downgrade of Croatia's credit rating to the so-called junk level is in fact the assessment of the government's work and proof that the government was working ad hoc and improvising in attempts to find solutions, HDZ president Tomislav Karamarko told a news conference on Saturday.
"We came to the moment of truth, this is the confirmation of the adventurism of the incompetent government. And now the government is calling the International Monetary Fund and not ... quality work, know-how and people who can do this job. All Croatian citizens will have to pay for this adventurism," Karamarko told reporters.
"This is not the HDZ's assessment of the government, although this was our assessment in the past because we knew what was going to happen. This is the assessment of the relevant agency which will affect everything that will be happening in Croatia next year. It means that in the future we will be taking more expensive loans and the few investments that are being made in Croatia will be discouraged. Many small and medium-size companies will be shut down and the number of the unemployed will go up," Karamarko said.
"We call on the government to present a coherent concept for overcoming the crisis, because we cannot overcome the crisis only by tax pressure, cosmetic reforms and attempts to discredit the Opposition," Karamarko stressed.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Friday lowered its long- and short-term sovereign credit ratings on Croatia to 'BB+/B' from 'BBB-/A-3', citing insufficient reforms. The outlook is stable.
Until now, the rating was investment-grade, whereas now it has been downgraded to speculative or junk level.
