Based on the rebalance and the decision on borrowing for this year, Montenegro will enter the foreign market and try to realize Eurobonds up to the level of 500 million euros, announced the Minister of Finance Darko Radunović.
When asked how much Montenegro will borrow based on the rebalancing and how much it will save based on the interest rate reduction, he replied that it is an interesting question that he cannot answer completely precisely.
"We will go to the foreign market and try to realize eurobonds up to the level of 500 million euros. The experience we had with this first tranche, with the help of the World Bank (WB) guarantee, was that we got a maturity of 12 years, a grace period of four years, while the interest rate was the six-month Euribor increased by 2,95", Radunović said. journalists at the signing of the loan agreement for the implementation of the project of Institutional Development and Strengthening of Agriculture in Montenegro - MIDAS 2.
He believes that Montenegro will not have those conditions now, but something a little less favorable, but certainly significantly more favorable than the current ones.
"My expectations are that we should have an interest rate of 3,25 to 3,5 percent, that is, it would mean some savings of around 1,5 percent, which is significant for 500 million euros," specified Radunović.
He said that everything depends on how it is calculated.
"Depending on how you calculate it, whether as a saving in four or seven years, how much will we define the Eurobond to be, so that saving can range from 30 to 50 million over time. These are extremely important resources", believes Radunović.
He announced that the Government is negotiating with its classic investors, with whom it has cooperated so far.
"One of the reasons why we decided that the requested amount should be 500 million is precisely that when you have a Eurobond issue of 500 million or more, some funds may appear whose business policy is not to work on a lower volume of issued Eurobonds," he stated. Radunović.
He said that he hopes that with the help of the consultants of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he will reach a wider base of potential investors.
At its session on Wednesday, the government adopted proposals for changes to the law on the budget for this year, as well as decisions on this year's borrowing by Montenegro.
The proposed decision on the indebtedness of Montenegro defines the credit arrangements that can be concluded this year for the implementation of projects, as well as the limits for issuing guarantees and total indebtedness for debt refinancing, budget financing and the creation of reserves.
On the expenditure side in the current budget, an amount of up to 70 million euros is planned for the purchase of part of the shares of Elektroprivreda (EPCG) from the Italian partner, the company A2A.
When asked how the Government plans to provide the rest of the money for this purpose, Radunović said that negotiations with A2A are ongoing and that an annex to the contract will probably be prepared according to the option.
"In this first part, we planned to provide funds up to 70 million. The details of that agreement will be announced soon, but I think that the process of disassociation between Montenegro and A2A is being realized with mutual satisfaction. We will create the prerequisites to find a new strategic partner in a public and transparent way," announced Radunović.
Commenting on the proposal of a representative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to introduce taxation of polluters, Radunović said that he supports it.
"I think it is a good trend to introduce special environmental taxes. We need to do a good analysis and carefully measure the extent," concluded Radunović.
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