According to available information, the Croatian National Bank does not expect any unusual difficulties or disturbances related to the rollover in 2000, neither in the operation of the central bank nor in the performance of the Croatian banking and payment system.

As well as other central banks in the world, the Croatian National Bank has introduced various measures and has undertaken various preparations to ensure that the rollover in 2000 will be completed smoothly. These measures include, among other activities, duty hours for a number of bank employees on days of the century date change, as well as adequate contingency plans.

The Croatian National Bank has set up a special committee in charge of introducing adequate measures and coordinating the Year 2000 preparatory work. On the basis of the data collected by this committee it can be observed that the majority of main actors in the Croatian payment system have completed the necessary Year 2000 preparations and have tested their information technology systems a few months before the "critical period".

The Croatian National Bank warned commercial banks and savings banks on time to pay attention to the possibility of increased public demand for cash in the final decade of this year and required them to ensure that they have a sufficient quantity of cash for their retail operation. As already made public, the CNB Council made several decisions in order to help banks to ensure adequate liquidity in case that the public demand for cash at the end of 1999 should exceed the demand usually recorded at the end of the year. On the basis of one of those decisions banks may temporarily make extended use of Lombard credits.

Taking into consideration all these factors, the Croatian central bank believes that the Croatian financial system is Year 2000 compliant and that unforeseen problems that may arise will be addressed as effectively as possible.