Montenegro raises 100 mln euros with Credit Suisse loan

PODGORICA, July 19 (Reuters) - Montenegro has secured a loan from Credit Suisse Group AG of 100 million euros ($122.65 million), about a third of its total planned borrowing for 2012, it said on Thursday.

The seven-year loan carries an interest rate of 12-month Euribor plus 3.5 percentage points, and 60 million euros of the facility will be guaranteed by the World Bank, Finance Minister Milorad Katnic told a news conference.

"With this arrangement, we have secured around 85 percent of funds needed to finance the budget," he said.

Montenegro has already borrowed 60 million euros this year from the World Bank and has an earlier 150 million euro from Credit Suisse still outstanding.

The Adriatic state plans to borrow 308 million euros in 2012 -- from the World Bank and commercial lenders rather than the International Monetary Fund -- to cover a budget deficit targeted at 2.5 percent this year.

Home to just 680,000 people and a candidate for membership of the European Union, Montenegro's budget is straining under the burden of state guarantees for loss-making industries.

The country's debt neared 50 percent of gross domestic product last month. GDP is forecast to grow just 0.5 percent. (Reporting by Petar Komnenic; Writing by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Catherine Evans)