Bad News From Croatia – Breaking Records

One of the reasons why former Yugoslavia broke apart was in 20 billion US$ of foreign debt - problem which federal government had been unable to solve and which later led to economic woes, complete break-down of federal authority and rise of nationalism.

Now, it seems that Republic of Croatia, in twelve years of independence, managed to break the record of former Federation. It is estimated that Croatia is burdened with 21 billion US$ of foreign debts.

Even if we take inflation into account, and the fact that some of ex-YU debt was inherited by Republic of Croatia, this is a unpleasantly huge debt. Needless to say, present Croatian government doesn't seem to be more efficient than ex-Yugoslav government in handling this crisis.