As Morski writes, the Croatian spending increase is seeing much more spent than was spent back in 2019, with consumption records being set. For the first time, Croats spent the most in July, and not during August as was typically the case before. As of today, Croats have spent 113 billion kuna more than they did back in 2019.
The fact that the sale of luxury cars is progressing like never before speaks for itself and it’s almost as if there had never been an unprecedented global public health crisis. That isn’t all, brand new apartments are being reserved and snapped up before the builders even arrive at the construction sites.
It didn’t take long for Croats to forget about the pandemic-induced economic crisis that rocked the world last year and current Croatian spending habits are well and truly reflecting that stance.
On July the 30th, 2021, the Croatian spending/consumption record was broken. Receipts and bills worth a massive 926 million kuna in total were issued, which is the highest in terms of Croatian spending in one day since the introduction of fiscalisation in the country.
During the pandemic which dominated 2020, Croatian residents sat at home and saved more than 15 billion kuna, which they’re now out spending, economists point out.
”In a way, they were waiting for the uncertainty surrounding the public health crisis to pass so that they could start spending their cash. The recovery of consumption and its significant growth has a positive effect on the situation in the state budget, given the VAT revenues, which are its most important item,” explained economist Iva Tomic.
In the first half of this year, almost 6,000 more cars were purchased than at the same time last year, and the most luxurious ones are doing especially well – for example, twice as many Porsches were sold.
Apartments were also sought, and a brand new residential complex will be built on the site of some dilapidated barracks in the very centre of Zagreb. Although the construction has not even started, the apartments are already being purchased, despite the high price of up to 4,000 euros per square metre. It has been said that this real case of consumer fever after a pandemic-dominated year hasn’t come as much of a surprise to psychologists.
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