Just how much did you spend for Christmas 2018? Croats spent a massive billion kuna more during this festive season than they did during the festive season before it, which sends out a positive signal.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 2nd of January, 2019, consumption in December 2018 reached record 14.85 billion kuna, up 7.1 percent from the same period last year when the average consumer spending amounted to 13.79 billion kuna, according to data from the Croatian tax administration. This marks an impressive billion kuna increase.
“This increase of over one billion kuna is in line with the estimates of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). The rising of wages and their growth through tax reform(s) acted upon the optimism of citizens and also on consumption. We also had a good tourist season, which also works in favour of this year’s record-breaking December,” said HGK’s Tomislav Ravlić.
She stressed that this contribution to public spending has increased as more and more employers have decided to pay their employees a higher salary, accompanied by bigger Christmas bonuses and similar monetary measures.
According to the results of the Croatian Chamber of Commerce’s research which was carried out last year, the largest number of respondents spent between 100 and 500 kuna on Christmas gifts (39 percent), followed by those who set between 500 and 1000 kuna (31 percent) this year.
The upper limit of 1000 kuna was exceeded 9 percent of people, while less 21 percent of the respondents spent less than 100 kuna. Almost 40 percent of people left toys and similar items under the Christmas tree in December 2018, with cosmetics (37 percent), footwear and clothing (36 percent) and delicatessen food products (25 percent) following.
As positive trends are appearing to continue, will 2019’s festive season manage to outdo this one?
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