The first installment of the Bar-Boljare highway loan worth around €30m and taken out at Exim Bank has become due today, 6 years after the start of construction of the priority Smokovac-Uvac-Matesevo highway section, which has not been completed yet. In addition to the highway installment, the Chinese should be paid $4.8m today for the purchase of the ships of Crnogorska and Barska Plovidba shipping companies, Pobjeda reports.
Yesterday, the Ministry of Finance did not tell Pobjeda the exact amount of the first installment after the agreed hedging arrangement, which reduced the interest rate on the highway loan from 2% in dollars to 0.88% in euros at the beginning of July.
The Ministry said it would release detailed information today.
Finance Minister Milojko Spajic said on 8 July that, thanks to hedging, the first loan installment would be reduced by €4m, without specifying the exact amount to be paid to the Chinese.
The second highway installment becomes due in January next year.
