At today's session, the Government adopted the Information on the need to issue approval for the credit arrangement of the company "Crnogorska plovidba" and gave its consent for the state-owned company to borrow from Prva Banka, in order to refinance the debt under the overdraft loan.
They remind that at the session on April 11, the Government considered the Information on the need for urgent resolution of the problem of the current insolvency of "Crnogorska plovidba" and reached conclusions on this occasion. In accordance with the conclusions, the Shareholders' Meetings of the shipping companies have been scheduled for May 19.
Meanwhile, Prva Banka AD Podgorica has blocked all accounts of "Crnogorska plovidba" due to an outstanding debt on an overdraft loan in the amount of around 400.000 euros.
"Given that Crnogorska plovidba, due to the blockage of its current accounts, is unable to service its operating costs (payment of wages to seafarers, mandatory insurance premiums, consumables, etc.), as well as the fact that all these problems in its business have been reported to the ITF (International Transport Workers' Federation), it is very certain that ships will stop at the nearest port in the coming days, which consequently induces enormously increased costs. The costs may escalate to the point that they may also threaten Crnogorska plovidba's ownership of ships worth approximately 15-20 million euros. As pointed out, this is an asset of extremely high value, and this shipping company is 100% state-owned. In order to avoid such a scenario, Crnogorska plovidba must immediately unblock its accounts within a period of time, in order to pay part of the wages to seafarers by the end of April and prevent the stopping of its ships," the Government announced.
In this regard, as announced, "Crnogorska plovidba" has applied for a refinancing loan with Prva Banka, with which it would settle the debt on the overdraft loan and unblock the accounts.
"According to information obtained from Prva Banka AD Podgorica, this loan would be approved with a repayment period of 3 years (36 months) and a grace period of 3 months. The current debt balance as of today amounts to 401.528,25 euros plus court costs and the associated default interest of 2%, which amounts to 8.030.56 euros per month," the statement reads.
The government notes that this loan arrangement has no implications for the state budget.
DON'T MISS IT
Bonus video:
