Prime Minister confirms electricity prices won't go up

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic confirmed on Saturday that electricity prices would not go up and that the government would pass a regulation to delay an increase in electricity prices.

Speaking to the press in Zagreb, Plenkovic said that the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Energy was preparing the regulation and that a long-term solution to this issue would be sought in the course of 2017.

Asked about possible lawsuits by electricity distributors, he said that a solution to this problem would be found and that at this point it was important to ensure that it was not private citizens who paid higher bills.

Asked if people would be happier in the new year, Plenkovic said that this year was "very political", adding that economic indicators were good and that he hoped growth would continue.

"Yesterday we paid Christmas bonuses, raised the minimum wage and reached an agreement with the state administration employees' unions. I hope we will continue in the same direction in talks with the public-sector unions," the prime minister said.

He said that next year would be a year of enterprise, lower taxes, greater legal certainty and investment incentives.

The decision by Standard & Poor's ratings agency to revise the economic outlook on Croatia to stable shows that if the present trends continue the credit rating could be upgraded to investment level, which would have an impact on the interest rate, as well as on interest rates for households. Our goal is to ensure further growth and to continue fiscal consolidation, the prime minister said.

Asked to comment on Croatia's decision to unblock Chapter 26 (Education and Culture) in Serbia's EU accession talks, Plenkovic said that the issue should not be dramatised and that the most important thing was that the Croatian minority in Serbia was satisfied.

"We expect the agreement signed to be implemented and will be closely monitoring this issue," he added.

Plenkovic wished everyone a merry Christmas and all the best in 2017.

Text: Hina

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