After a slowdown in the last quarter of 2017, the economic growth is accelerating.
The CEIZ index, developed by the Economic Institute in Zagreb (EIZ), which provides a monthly estimate of the state of the economy on the basis of statistical economic data, achieved in January and February of this year its highest values in the last six months, reports Jutarnji List on April 16, 2018.
“Although the index has declined year-on-year since January 2017, the fall has slowed down significantly in the first two months of this year, to a minus 0.4 and a minus 0.6 points. In February this year, all components of the CEIZ index increased on an annual basis, in particular, the value-added tax revenues which have recorded a significant growth and have given the largest positive contribution to the change of the CEIZ index value in February this year,” announced the EIZ.
Compared to the last quarter of 2017, the index cumulatively increased by 0.5 index points in the first two months of this year, while the average index value in January and February was by 0.6 points higher than the average value in the last quarter 2017. Such dynamics of CEIZ growth suggest, according to EIZ analysts, that economic activity has accelerated in the first quarter of this year compared to the end of last year.
“Based on the movement of the CEIZ index, we expect that the annual growth rate of real GDP in the first quarter of this year could amount to 2.7 percent year-on-year, which would be a significant improvement over the GDP growth rate of 2 percent achieved in the last quarter of 2017. Seasonally adjusted data suggest that, in the first three months of 2018, the GDP grew by one percent compared to the previous quarter,” announced the EIZ in its analysis.
Translated from Jutarnji List (reported by Frenki Laušić).
