The Ministry of Finance borrowed a total of 159 million euros in December 2023, as stated by the government department to TVCG.
Out of this, 109 million came through the conclusion of loan agreements with eight domestic banks, and 50 million euros through the issuance of government securities, specified the Ministry.
The funds from the borrowing, they explained, were used to timely meet the obligations planned by the annual budget law for the year 2023.
The Ministry notes that the borrowing of 109 million euros had an average weighted interest rate of 6.55%, fixed, and most of the contracts, as they mentioned, were concluded with a maturity period of 5 years.
The state, they emphasized, also incurred debt through three issuances of government securities.
Regarding government securities, the borrowing was done through three issuances, as follows: 20 million euros for a three-month period with an interest rate of 3.75%, 20 million for six months with an interest rate of 3.5%, and 10 million for nine months with an interest rate of 4.0%. The average weighted interest rate on the total amount of issued securities is 3.7%, stated the Ministry of Finance in response to TVCG’s question about whether the state secretly borrowed funds.
The Ministry stated that the state did not incur secret debts in the earlier period, nor in December 2023.
The borrowing process was carried out by the Ministry of Finance with the approval of the Government of Montenegro, given in accordance with the provisions of the Budget and Fiscal Responsibility Law, the Budget Law for 2023, and the Decision on Borrowing for 2023. It is especially emphasized that during the submission of materials to the Government, the negotiation process was ongoing with a certain number of banks, and the contracts were marked as ‘confidential’ by the banks. For these reasons, it was decided to classify the information as ‘internal’ confidential, as stated in the announcement.
Recall that Prime Minister Milojko Spajić also announced that the public was informed about the borrowings.
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