MILS: News from the FYROM, 97-07-16

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From: "Macedonian Information Liaison Service" <mils@mils.spic.org.mk>

CONTENTS

[01] FLAGS IN DEBAR AND VRUTOK REMOVED BY UNIDENTIFIED DOERS

[02] DPA REPRESENTATIVES SUBMIT INTERPELLATION ON MINISTER CHOKREVSKI'S FUNCTION

[03] RESOLUTION OF OPEN ISSUES THROUGH SYSTEM INSTITUTIONS

[04] INTO NATO AFTER FULFILLING CRITERIA

[05] 11 MILLION DOLLARS LOAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MIDDLE-SIZED FIRMS

[06] GREEK `JONIAN' BANK INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN MACEDONIA

[07] INTERVENING IMPORT AGAINST ENORMOUS PRICE INCREASES

[08] THE DEVALUATION IN FAVOUR OF FARMERS

[09] HEALTH FUND ACCOUNT BLOCKED

[10] CHARGES PRESSED AGAINST PEOPLE INVOLVED IN `TAT' SCANDAL

[11] 12 MACEDONIAN CITIZENS AWARDED WITH FRENCH DECORATIONS

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[12] `Clear Accounts by World Model' (`Vecher', 15 July, 1997)

[13] `Debts on Open Palm' (`Nova Makedonija', 15 July, 1997)

MILS NEWS

Skopje, 16 July, 1997

[01] FLAGS IN DEBAR AND VRUTOK REMOVED BY UNIDENTIFIED DOERS

The removal of the flags yesterday was the cause to call a pre-terminal session of the township council, which was soon after canceled due to incompleteness of the council. (the representatives from the SDSM, the LDT, the DPT and 2 independent members were not present). The Council president Dauti yesterday stated that there are no information regarding who is the one that removed the flags. In front of the municipality building in the village of Vrutok yesterday unidentified people took down and set on fire the Macedonian, the Albanian and the Turkish flags. The Macedonian Television reports that investigation is underway and by now there are no indications in respect of the possible doers.

[02] DPA REPRESENTATIVES SUBMIT INTERPELLATION ON MINISTER CHOKREVSKI'S FUNCTION

Concordantly to the work provisions Minister Chokrevski by at most 1 month from the day of receiving the interpellation should submit his reply which should be added to the Assembly session agenda within 10 days after the reply. If the minister does not reply within the deadline of 30 days the interpellation will be moved in the first following session following the 30 days determined. As it has already been informed the representatives from the Party for Democratic Prosperity announced not to take part in the Parliament activities until Minister Chokrevski submits a detailed report on the Gostivar and Tetovo events. The PDP leader, Abdurahman Aliti, in an interview to the satellite programme of the Albanian Television stated that the Albanian ministers in the Macedonian Government did not appear at the Monday regular session in a sign of revolt.

[03] RESOLUTION OF OPEN ISSUES THROUGH SYSTEM INSTITUTIONS

On the occasion of the current events in Western Macedonia Minister Handziski once again conveyed the attitudes of the USA, Great Britain and the High Commissar of OSCE for International Relations, Max Van Der Stoel, which uphold the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Macedonian Republic. According to Minster Handziski the massage is clear - dialogue within the frameworks of the state institutions.

[04] INTO NATO AFTER FULFILLING CRITERIA

According to him in the adopted Madrid declaration particularly important are the paragraphs 8 and 9 which define future phases of Alliance extension. In the declaration priority in entering the Alliance have the state from South-Eastern Europe, and most serious chances are given to Slovenia, Romania, Macedonia and Bulgaria. Minister Handziski in front of the members of the Commission for Foreign Policy stated that at the Madrid summit Macedonia and Bulgaria have been reminded that the language dispute hinders their Alliance entering. The unresolved dispute of Macedonia with Greece, according to Handziski does not hinder the Alliance membership yet it is advisable to be solved.

[05] 11 MILLION DOLLARS LOAN FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SMALL AND MIDDLE-SIZED FIRMS

The Macedonian Radio reports, the loans that are going to be granted will be used by `Makedonija turist' from Skopje, `Teteks' from Tetovo, `Nikol-fart' from Nikolich and `Mashinomont' from Skopje. The loan granted to `Makedonija turist' amounting up to 5 million dollars will be used for modernization of the `Grand' Hotel in Skopje. `Teteks' will receive 1 and a half million dollars on development of the potential production of light wool products. `Nikol-fert' is granted a loan for supply of mill for production of spools, profiles and rods, while `Mashinomont' will use the granted 800.000 dollars on relocation of the capacities in a new production department. Suggestions on granting all four loans are given by the governments of Italy, Austria, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Holland and Great Britain.

[06] GREEK `JONIAN' BANK INTERESTED IN INVESTING IN MACEDONIA

[07] INTERVENING IMPORT AGAINST ENORMOUS PRICE INCREASES

According to Ivanov, the Government at this session did not discuss the proposed bill on restitution of the `TAT', ALFA-S' and `Lavci' clients, but hopes that the Assembly procedure regarding this bill will be reactivated very soon. At the session from 2 days ago fortified were the draft- bills on bankruptcy , energetics, public works, on waters, as well as the executive procedures on insurance and legal office.

[08] THE DEVALUATION IN FAVOUR OF FARMERS

[09] HEALTH FUND ACCOUNT BLOCKED

[10] CHARGES PRESSED AGAINST PEOPLE INVOLVED IN `TAT' SCANDAL

[11] 12 MACEDONIAN CITIZENS AWARDED WITH FRENCH DECORATIONS

MILS SUPPLEMENT

[12] `Clear Accounts by World Model'

(`Vecher', 15 July, 1997)

The adaptation of our accounting practice to the internationally legible `language' has started from a dead point. Recently, by a Government decision, a Commission for Accounting standards has been formed the purpose of which is to follow, co-ordinate and clarify the application of the international accounting standards. Many times now it has been indicated that one of the inevitable prerequisites for attracting foreign capital in this state is to state working results with bookkeeping accounts which could be understood by the interested financiers. This can be achieved only if we adopt the international accounting standards as national ones.

The Finance Ministry opted for this solution which means that there will be no issuing of special, national accounting standards. Instead, those that had been established by the Committee for International Accounting Standards will only be adopted. This, on the other hand, does not imply their uncritical copying into our finance practice, but rather necessary adapting to our needs. For many Western-Europe states, for instance, there is no problem in expressing unpaid demands, but this is an unavoidable moment in our state, knowing that the owing relations between firms are particularly present. Due to this one of the main objectives of the Commission will be to adapt the general standards to our economic environment.

With the implementation of the international accounting standard, as it is said by the Finance Ministry, our bookkeeping system will be enriched with new contents, and regulations that are being applied in many states with an economy market will be adopted. Thus our bookkeeping system will become compatible with the one in the developed states where from we aim to attract capital. Besides, the necessity to initiate settling of the situation in the bookkeeping sphere, at least in the regulative part, is generated from the Bill on commercial companies which covers the decision according to which regulations regarding conducting commercial books and preparation of annual accounts will be applied after the accounting principles and accounting standards have been adopted.

In the Bill on bookkeeping it is established that these will be issued by an expert organisation authorised by the Finance Minister. This will be the task taken by the Commission for accounting standards, and in its realisation it will engage experts from the field of accounting and finance. The government Commission structure includes representatives from the Union of accountants, financiers and inspectors, the Economy faculties from Skopje and Prilep, the Payment Flow Institute, the Economy Ministry, the Commission for valuable papers, the Economy Institute, the National bank, the Economy Chamber, the Public Firm `Elektrostopanstvo na Makedonija', AD `OHIS', and AD `Teteks' from Tetovo.

[13] `Debts on Open Palm'

(`Nova Makedonija', 15 July, 1997)

The Macedonian National Bank will become a gathering centre for the quality scope of the firms' debts to the commercial banks in the state, it has been announced by officials from the MNB. The central banking register of the debtor firms, this is one of the temporary terms denoting the project in process of preparation, will help `introducing' finance discipline in the firms and contribute to the banks' building a successful credit strategy towards their account holders. In fact, this presents only one element among many measures that have been proposed by the bankers for a longer period of time and they are leading towards diminishing risks in credit granting, besides the demand to put an end to the cash transactions and passing a new bill on bankruptcy which will protect the interests of the trustees.

`We have taken the obligation which is of mutual interest, for the firms and especially for the banks', says MNB governor Ljube Trpevski who has promoted this idea during the announcement of the denar devaluation after negotiations with the Mission of the International Monetary Fond had ended. Firms that take credits from a bank and then disappear from it only to appear in another bank again demanding credit which they will not repay, and then go to a third bank etc., etc... will not be able to behave thus in the future. Such a finance undiscipline is possible because the banks are now not being informed about cases like this.

`As a National Bank we have taken the obligation to create a central register and inform the banks on such firms and this will help hindering their access to a credit', says governor Trpeski. Besides this, at a recent press conference, he has announced monitoring of the relations: commercial bank - firm done by the central bank, particularly in cases when `B' category and lower credits are being granted. `Those are credits the payment of which is delayed for 60 days', explained Trpeski, adding that these measures are taken to improve the finance discipline. Bankers greet the MNB initiative. `The central register will enable a one mode calcification of the account holders, unlike the existing case of having one firm with two different financial states in two different banks', says Zoran Trpevski, director of the Macedonian Bank. `This is the real thing', he adds.

He himself for several times had suggested the elaboration of such a register at the banker's meetings in the Economy Chamber. According to some bankers the quickening of the central register will enable use of differential interest rates depending on the liquidity of the debtor and the risk of the credit to be repaid. The director of the Macedonian bank explains that in the developed states it is usual the credit interests to move between 5,5 and 14% depending on the subject demanding the money and his popularity. This means: that the higher the risk - the higher the interest. National bank officials state that they will not take on the role of `judges' and determine the firms' liquidity, but they will only issue data on demand of the banks regarding debts of a certain firm and credit payment. Practically, banks will have on disposal certain elements on basis of which they would decide whether to take the risk of a deal, and if so under what conditions would they do it. This project will mainly be realised during this year, and partly in near future, say officials from the MNB.

The central bank has on disposal data basis enabling the register preparation, although, experts say, little firms may present a problem, i.e. the `minor' debtors which are considered to be `remnant debtors' and the banks have no details on them. But, although being minor they can endanger the performance of the larger banks. However, the bankers' estimates say that the central register will be a good instrument to improve finance discipline and that it can enrage only firms that are swimming well in muddy debtor-trustee waters .

(end)

mils news 16 July, 1997

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