Finance Ministry State-Secretary, Zdravko Zrinušić, informed a cabinet meeting that “trends in state aid in 2020 were marked by the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which also partially influenced the structure of grants awarded.”
Zrinušić underscored that state aid continued to increase and in 2020 grants jumped by 40% on the year.
Croatia’s state aid as a percentage of GDP amounted to 5.68%. Support per each employed person in 2020 amounted to HRK 13,666 (€1,822), which is an increase of HRK 3,978 or 41.1% year-on-year.
That amount was HRK 5,275 per capita which is HRK 1,600 or 43.5% more y-o-y.
The share of support in state expenditure in 2020 amounted to 20.72%, said Zrinušić.
The agriculture and fisheries sector was granted HRK 7.7 billion in state aid last year, which is an increase of 15% compared with 2019, while support to the industry and services sector amounted to HRK 13.4 billion or an increase of 60%.
Support to the economic sector during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 was granted for the first time ever and amounted to HRK 1.64 billion or 7.8% of all the state aid, while its share in GDP was 0.44%.
Instruments issued last year for support were in the form of subsidies or direct subsidies of interest and amounted to HRK 14.95 billion, followed by capital investments (HRK 2.2 billion), tax exemptions and breaks (HRK 1.66 billion), guarantees (HRK 1.4 billion), and favourable loans (HRK 888 million), the annual report notes.
Zrinušić underscores that no changes are expected in the structure of state aid in 2021, including the consequences caused by the pandemic and earthquakes that struck Croatia last year.
