The most funds, HRK 68 million, will be saved by cutting telephone bills, Kosor said while speaking about the situation in the central public procurement system.

The cost of furnishing and maintenance will be reduced by HRK 40 million. The Central Public Procurement Office is preparing together with the Faculty of Forestry a project to standardise office furniture for state institutions, she said.

Twenty-five million kuna is to be saved on office supplies, 10 million on water bills and operating supplies, and nine million on cleaning, she added.

Last year the government saved HRK 150 million by making order in the system for the purchase of diesel fuel used by farmers and fishermen, and thanks to austerity measures, savings made in the 2010 budget reached HRK 3.5 billion, Kosor said, adding that the government had frozen government spending in 2011 and 2012 at the 2010 level.

All these changes show that we were wasting a lot of money and that must change, Kosor said.

Complete transparency is necessary in the spending of budgetary funds, and I believe that the Central Public Procurement Office will serve as an example to such offices on the local level, Kosor said, adding that the government would direct the money saved into support for the economy.

The head of the Central Public Procurement Office, Drazen Ivanusec, could not say if cutting telephone bills meant the government would change its current operator.

"We have stated in the tender documentation what kind of telephone services we want. Based on a comparison of the prices we have been paying so far and the experience of EU member countries implementing the same measures, we expect a high percentage of savings," Ivanusec said, adding that the decision on the government's provider of telecommunications services would be made very soon.