Vujčić told the press in Dubrovnik where he had formally opened the 27th international economic conference, that Croatia’s economic activity for the whole of 2021 would likely rebound at a rate of 6.8%, however, the epidemiological situation caused by the COVID pandemic still created uncertainties.
Vujčić explained that in the worst-case scenario, the GDP could rise by 4.8% in 2021.
The governor underscored a significant role of the government that provided job-retention grants which helped save jobs and made it possible for the recovery to be faster.
The crisis has made the ongoing digitisation processes faster, prompting remote working. I expect a large number of people to go back to work sites. Only after all things go back to normal, we will be provided with the real picture regarding the labour market that has behaved during the pandemic differently than during the big financial crisis in 2009 and 2010. In Croatia, we have already reached the 2019 levels in terms of employment figures and we are now faced with the recurring problem of shortage of skilled workforce, he said.
Commenting on the European Union’s Next Generation plan, he said that that would be crucial for the economic recovery in the medium term.
In the next two years, the maximum of available funds will be tapped, and this amount of the funds withdrawn from the EU will have a positive impact on Croatia’s GDP, according to his explanation.
The 27th Dubrovnik Economic Conference brought together about 70 experts and researchers from abroad and Croatia as well as representatives of financial institutions, central banks and the financial sector.
Some of the topics on the agenda of the conference are the further strengthening of the role of the state, particularly through the EU Next Generation programme, exchange mechanisms, corporate bankruptcies and so on.
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