ZAGREB, March 26, 2018 – The CEIZ index of the Zagreb Institute of Economics (EIZ), which grew by 0.67 points month-on-month, indicated moderate strengthening of economic activity in Croatia at the start of this year, EIZ recently reported.
“In January 2018, CEIZ index grew by 0.67 index points compared to December 2017 and was 0.57 index points higher than the average index value recorded in the last quarter of 2017. This indicates that the economic activity in the country strengthened somewhat compared to the last quarter of 2017, when the economic activity stagnated based on quarterly GDP growth rates,” according to the report.
“However, considering that the index value in the first month of 2018 was lower than in January of 2017, we can conclude that the economic activity at the beginning of 2018 was not as strong as in the first quarter of last year. Based on CEIZ index trends, we expect that the real annual GDP growth rate in the first quarter of 2018 could amount to 2.8 percent, which is a significant improvement compared to the 2 percent GDP growth rate recorded in the last quarter of 2017,” the institute said.
The Coincident Economic Index (CEIZ) is a monthly composite business cycle indicator developed by the Institute of Economics. Its purpose is to provide timely information on the current business cycle condition.
