Croatia is among EU member states with the lowest share of deficit in GDP.
Director of the Central Bureau of Statistics Marko Krištof announced on Monday that in 2016 Croatia had the lowest deficit since 2002, saying that the success was the result of growth in all economic sectors and the excellent tourist season, reports Večernji List on April 24, 2017.
The deficit of the Croatian state budget in 2016 amounted to 2.7 billion kuna, which was just 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), while public debt fell to 84.2 percent of GDP, announced on Monday the State Bureau of Statistics and Eurostat.
“This is a significant reduction compared to 2015, when the deficit amounted to 11.3 billion kuna, or 3.4 percent of GDP. The decrease of 8.5 billion kuna was the result of the growth in all sectors of the economy, and especially of the excellent tourist season. This was the lowest deficit recorded since 2002, when the current methodology was first used,” said Krištof at a press conference. He added that 2016 was the second year in a row with the primary surplus of the general government sector, which amounted to 2.5 percent of GDP, or 8.4 billion kuna.
Public debt in December fell to 289.07 billion kuna, or 84.2 percent of GDP, which was about 500 million kuna less than in the same month of 2015, when it amounted to 289.58 billion kuna or 86.7 percent of GDP. Thus, public debt fell by 2.5 percentage points, which is its first decline in eight years, thanks to good fiscal results and higher than expected growth in the economy.
Last year, GDP grew by 2.9 percent, which was the fastest growth since 2007.
With its budget deficit of 0.8 percent of GDP, Croatia is among EU member states with the lowest share of deficit in GDP. Other EU member states with low deficits are Ireland and Denmark. In 2016, Ireland had the budget deficit of 0.6 percent of GDP, while Denmark had the deficit of 0.9 percent of GDP.
With its debt of 84.2 percent of GDP, Croatia is one of 16 members states of the European Union with debt that exceeds 60 percent of GDP. The highest share of debt was recorded in Greece with 179 percent, followed by Italy with 132.6 percent, Portugal 130.4 percent, Cyprus 107.8 percent, and Belgium 105.9 percent.
Lowest share was recorded in Estonia with 9.5 percent, followed by Luxembourg with 20 percent, Bulgaria 29.5 percent, Czech Republic, 37.2 percent, Romania 37.6 percent and Denmark with 37.8 percent.
