Croatia presents draft of consumer bankruptcy law

The Croatian government presented on Wednesday a draft of consumer bankruptcy law, aiming at helping indebted citizens, local media reported.

Orsat Miljenic, Croatian justice minister, presented the draft to representatives from commercial banks, notaries' chamber, lawyers' chamber and NGOs dealing with problems of indebted citizens.

Miljenic said the draft was aimed at helping indebted consumers to repay their debts and get "a clean more responsible start".

Law proscribes that citizens with debts between 4,400 and 14,690 U.S. dollars, which are not paid for at least three months, will have the possibility to declare "consumer's bankruptcy". Additionally, debtors should not owe to more than 20 borrowers.

Miljenic estimated around 2,000 to 3,000 people are expected to enter the consumer bankruptcy process.

There are over 320,000 citizens in Croatia with their bank accounts blocked, owing more than 4.5 billion dollars, according to state statistics.

Earlier, the Croatian government started initiatives for helping indebted citizens by writing-off debts, which has resulted in 12,000 people having their debt written-off in just 10 days from implementing this measures. Endit