Croatia To Aid Exports By Subsidizing Shipbuilding

The Croatian will subsidize the ailing shipbuilding industry to boost the country's stagnating exports, officials said, adding that while Croatia has few products it can export, a product it does have is ships. Officials said that, given the new government's proclaimed goal of entering the EU, Croatia had to find a way of balancing its current and trade accounts. The country's trade gap in the first 11 months of 1999 stood at $3.2 billion, while the current account gap is forecast at around $1.5 billion or 6-7 percent of gross domestic product. The government was prepared to help put the ailing industry back on track, but will not pay for their current expenditures such as wages, which was a standard practice of the former government, officials said.