"If we've waited for years, we can carry on waiting for another few months," Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said as a guest of Dnevnik Nova TV last night, answering the question of how long it may take to analyse and implement the adjustment of pay ratios, Dnevnik.hr reports.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 30th of October, 2019, Zdravko Maric has to secure 150 million kuna for compensatory measures until the issue of coefficients is resolved, and when asked if he has the money, he says that this is not planned.
"So, as far as salaries are concerned, you'll see in the budget proposal for next year, of the total budget increase, there are two key items. On the one hand, there is one billion and 700 million kuna more for pensions and retirement benefits. And secondly, the same amount is foreseen for salaries," explained Maric.
"With regard to wage policy, we need to be very clear here. The wage increase is ahead of the proposal to increase the base. But as I said today, and I will say again now - we've opened up a very important topic that is gaining more attention in the media and among the general public," he added, referring to the topic of wages, which has been a burning one of late.
When asked how long it should take to analyse and implement what needs to be done, Maric simply stated that we have already been waiting for years and that essentially, a few more months or so shouldn't hurt.
He added that it's high time we start questioning what we're getting from our public services and noted that certain negative trends had been reversed, and that public debt is declining, that expenditures are being kept under control, that interest rates have fallen and that Croatia's rating has thus improved.
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