Marić: Govt recognises need for demographic, economic revival in earthquake-hit area

The government recognises the need for the economic and demographic revival of the Banovina region, hit recently by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić underscored during Question Time in parliament on Tuesday. 

"Before the COVID-19 crisis, unemployment in Sisak-Moslavina County was twice as high as in the rest of Croatia. The government's programme recognises the need to dedicate special attention to Banovina as well as some other parts of Croatia," said Marić responding to a question by Independent MP Marijana Petir who warned of the low standard of living in that region and the need to encourage young people to stay there.

"We are talking about physical reconstruction, reconstruction of houses but also about revitalising the economy and demography," added Marić.

He recalled that the government recently appointed a task force with ministers NatašaTramišak and Tomislav Ćorić at its helm, to deal with those issues.

When asked by MP Gari Cappelli (HDZ) about future relations with the USA, Foreign Minister Gordan Grlić Radman said that he expected Croatia to be included in the visa waiver programme soon.

"We expect the state secretariat to adopt an official notice that the state has met the condition of less than three percent of rejected applications, unofficially it is 2.7%, which will enable Croatian citizens to visit the USA for business or for tourism without a visa," announced Grlić Radman.

Apart from that, we expect an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation to be endorsed soon, which will enable better economic cooperation, the minister said.

Economy Minister Tomislav Ćorić told MP Žarko Tušek (HDZ) that with reference to support to enterprises in earthquake-hit areas, his ministry would allocate HRK 10 million in emergency aid to be used to repair the damage caused by the earthquake to micro and small enterprises and tradesmen.

"The idea is to give them emergency aid in the amount of HRK 30,000 to replace damaged equipment," said Ćorić.

Text: Hina

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