Podgorica - Apart from corruption allegations thrown at Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic's cabinet, the Montenegrin opposition also based its campaign for yesterday's snap poll on the prophecy of an economic meltdown.

The electorate did not buy the message and Djukanovic's bloc annihilated the opposition by winning an absolute majority to extend its administration into a third decade.

"The claims of imminent bankruptcy are utter nonsense," Deputy Premier and Finance Minister Igor Luksic told the German Press Agency dpa in Podgorica on Monday.

In spite of the global financial crisis, Montenegro is expecting 2-per-cent economic growth this year and can yet afford not to accept an up to 300-million-euro (400-million-dollar) loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), he said.

"We are talking with the IMF, but at the moment we don't need the money," Luksic said in an interview a day after the coalition led by Djukanovic's and his Democratic Party of Socialists stormed to take 46 out of the 71 seats in parliament.

Insiders have been tipping that Luksic may head the next cabinet if Djukanovic, who had been premier on six occasions and president once, decides to fade into the background.

Still in charge of the small Adriatic republic's finances, Luksic dismissed opposition claims that the nation's credit rating is deteriorating quickly. "Unlike some other countries in the region, we offer full internal stability," he said.

He acknowledged that a major bank, the Prva, is having a hard time repaying the second installment of a 44-million euro bailout package, but denied rumors that the entire banking system is tottering.

"The opposition says the system is facing a collapse, but that is untrue. The liquidity of the Prva is questionable, but that bank is not systemically crucial for the whole banking sector," Luksic said.

"The second installment is a problem, after it returned the first 11 million euros, but the situation is nowhere as dramatic as the opposition is picturing it," he stressed.

The upcoming government - which will be delayed until late April owing to a repeat vote in two polling stations - plans to pull through the crisis by pushing through big foreign investments, such as the privatization of the national power grid and the port in the city of Bar.

Montenegro is expected to open a tender for new power plants this year and hopes the construction of the north-south highway, awarded to a Croatian consortium, would facilitate other major tourist infrastructure projects worth billions of euros.

Tourism is Montenegro's second-largest source of revenue, generating up to 17 per cent of the gross domestic product. Luksic also shrugged off the doomsday forecasts for the vital sector.

"Apocalyptic forecasts of pending misery in tourism are misplaced," he said. "We're not expecting a dramatic decline in the number of visits."

Nevertheless, the authorities plan to cut some taxes to bring down prices and boost the industry. "Our guests can expect lower prices this season," Luksic said. (dpa)