ZAGREB, July 13, 2018 – The Croatian government stands by its growth projection despite the fact that the European Commission has revised its forecast downwards slightly, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Friday.
The European Commission on Thursday released its summer interim forecast projecting Croatia’s growth for this year at 2.6%, down from the previous 2.8%. The country’s economy is expected to slow down to 2.5% growth in 2019.
“The Commission revised its growth projections for this year downwards slightly, to 2.6%, which is not a big difference from the forecasts by the government, leading Croatian analysts and the Croatian National Bank. All our estimates are in the same range. The figures from the first quarter possibly indicate a need for a downward revision, but we in the government stand by our projection, and budget revenues collection is in line with our projections. The third and fourth quarters are ahead of us and they are very important not only from the point of view of tourism but other economic sectors as well. We will be following the situation and we will see, but for now we stand by our projections,” Marić told reporters in Brussels where he was attending a meeting of EU finance ministers.
The Croatian government expects the national economy to grow at a rate of 2.9% this year. On the other hand, most domestic and foreign analysts expect a slowdown in growth.
The Croatian National Bank expects GDP growth of 2.8%, the same as the International Monetary Fund, while the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank have forecast Croatia’s growth at 2.7% and 2.6% respectively. The most optimistic are analysts at Addiko bank, who have projected a growth rate of 3.0%, while Erste bank expects growth of 2.8% and Raiffeisenbank Austria of 2.3%.
