Montenegro Govt to Pay Off State TV's Debt

Podgorica on Thursday announcd that it would take over the debts of the Public Broadcasting Service of Montenegro, RTCG, which are worth 2.4 million euros.

The contract will soon be signed by the Minister of Finance, Radoje Zugic and the CEO of RTCG, Rade Vojvodic.

The government will  pay 1.1 million euros to the European Broadcasting Union, 900,000 euros in tax debt and 400,000 euros to the Electric Power Company and other suppliers.

"RTCG is responsible for verifying all its liabilities arising from the repayment of the debts and submit them to the Ministry of Finance," the government said in a statement.

Over the last two years, the government has taken over almost 30 million worth of debts of troubled state companies.

The governement has opted to pay 3.7 million euros in debts owed by the national air carrier, Montenegro Airlines, and more the 3.5 million in loans for the Railway  Company.

The government also took over some of KAP aluminium plant's debts, totalling 22 million, owed to Deutsche Bank , when two state guarantees were called in. Last year, it paid 2.8 million euro owed by the state-owned daily newspaper Pobjeda.

Opposition parties and civil society group have sharply criticized the government's practice saying it is abusing tax payers to cover the costly debts of "state-owned losers".