The government on Friday gave a state guarantee to the HZ Infrastruktura rail company to borrow 245 million kuna (€33 million) from the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR).

The company will take out the loan to finance projects from the Connecting Europe Facility so that it can service its obligations to contractors.

Transport and Infrastructure Minister Oleg Butkovic said the obligations pertain to works on the Krizevci-Koprivnica-State Border railway, a project worth 2.61 billion kuna.

The interest on the loan is 0.26% and the deadline for repaying the principal is December 31, 2023.

The state guarantee will not affect the state budget.

The government also adopted state aid policy guidelines for the 2022-24 period.

(€1 = 7.5 kuna)