March 20 (SeeNews) - Croatia's economy minister Darko Horvat said on Wednesday that bankruptcy of troubled shipbuilder Uljanik would be a cheaper solution compared to its restructuring only in the short run, local media reported.
"The first stage will certainly show that it is cheaper to go into bankruptcy, but in the long run, in the following ten years this is a subject of polemics," business news portal seebiz.eu quoted Horvat as saying ahead of a meeting of the ruling coalition.
"We will certainly not get the exact figure, and we will have to simulate some things, I suppose."
A programme for the restructuring of Uljanik would cost an estimated 930 million euro ($1.05 billion/6.9 billion kuna), Horvat said.
He also said that the ruling coalition would discuss the future of Uljanik but would not make decisions at its meeting.
Finance minister Zdravko Maric was quoted as saying ahead of the meeting that taxpayers have the right to know how much has been spent so far to keep Uljanik afloat, as well as how much more has to be paid.
"Things are serious. Large amounts have been paid so far. A few days ago I said that 3.1 billion kuna have been spent so far on guarantees for building ships that don't exist," he said.
A Croatian court said earlier this ,omth it has appointed a temporary insolvency manager tasked with examining whether there are prerequisites for opening bankruptcy proceedings against Uljanik. The insolvency manager must submit a report with his findings to the court by April 25 at the latest. A hearing on the findings is scheduled for May 3.
On March 5, Croatia's financial agency FINA asked the court to open bankruptcy proceedings against Uljanik over an outstanding debt of 28.2 million kuna ($4.3 million/3.8 million euro).
(1 euro = 7.41366 kuna)