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PM Marković: Motorway is investment in our future supported by three-fourths of citizens of Montenegro

Published on: Jun 26, 2019 • 9:39 PM Author: PR Service
"The motorway is an investment in our future. We invest in it our means and the means we borrowed under the most favorable conditions, in order to ensure sustainable growth and development for our and future generations. ... There are no open issues related to the implementation of a purpose loan, nor did Montenegro provide the land as collateral. .. Loans are not spent for solving social problems and the "quiet mandate" of the Government, but for development in order to improve the quality of life of citizens," Prime Minister Duško Marković said at the Prime Minister's Question session.

Answering the question of the Club of MPs of the Social Democrats and the Liberal Party of Montenegro about the speculations that are often heard about our country allegedly awaiting "debt bondage" due to the loan for the construction of the motorway, the Prime Minister said that there are often present attempts to discuss the influence of the Chinese Exim bank loan for construction of the first section of the motorway with insinuations about the difficulty of repayment of loans, conspiracy theories about mortgaged land, etc.

"Absolutely nothing of what is speculated is true. It's true that there are no open questions about the implementation of this purpose loan, nor our country is late with payments, since the loan repayment period has not begun. The repayment of this loan starts in July 2021, amounting to 66.4 million dollars a year, during 14 years of repayment, and will amount to about one-fifth of the total public debt. So far, about 655 million dollars have been withdrawn from the Chinese loan, and the completion of the first section of the motorway is expected in 2020. It is also true that Montenegro did not provide the land as collateral. Namely, the loan was obtained on the basis of the best conditions that a particular bank offered at that moment in the global financial market. Among other things, the offer of Exim Bank had an interest rate of 2%, and the second-ranked offer had an interest rate ranging from 4.31% to 7%. And the grace period was drastically more favorable with the Chinese bank. The calculation is, I do not doubt, now clear," Prime Minister Duško Marković said and added that there is no "debt bondage".

The Prime Minister said that the Government had designed the repayment of these loans within the repayment of the total public debt, which is part of the Public Debt Management Strategy of Montenegro.

Speaking of the effects of the construction of the motorway, the Prime Minister said that the construction of the first section of the motorway, alongside the other investment projects in the country, influenced the growth of gross investments in the country in 2018.

Speaking of the repayment of the loan, the Prime Minister said that toll revenues would amount to about one-third of the annuity, and that the Government would create the prerequisites for the construction of the next section that will not be financed from the loan. PM Marković stressed that the investor is Montenegro, not China or any other country. Furthermore, he pointed to the research done for the needs of the Communication Strategy of the Government of Montenegro last year, which shows that 76% of Montenegrin citizens support the construction of the motorway.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO


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