ZAGREB, December 6, 2018 – Croatia must join more actively in global value chains as soon as possible because it has high quality companies whose access to foreign markets should be facilitated, it was said on Thursday at the conference “The role of global value chains – an opportunity for export and investment?”, organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
The head of the HGK department for attracting investments, Svjetlana Momčilović, presented the results of a survey on the expectations of 400 Croatian companies from the next six-month period.
“The overall result as regards business expectations for this year and the next six months is optimism, notably among exporters. Exporters also expect an increase in investments, in the number of employees and in revenues, while the percentage of businesses that expect a deterioration of the business environment is much lower,” said Momčilović.
The survey shows that 40% of those polled expect higher revenues in the next six months, and almost a half of them will have new investments in that period. Also, 17% of companies that do not export their products will increase the number of workers, as will 31% of export-oriented companies. Both exporters and non-exporters fear labour shortages in the next six months, with 39% of exporters and 29% of non-exporters citing that as a problem.
Momčilović said that the main obstacles to doing business are frequent legislative changes, notably changes of tax-related laws, inefficient public administration, excessive taxes, etc.
“Integration with global value chains is inevitable. Croatia must hurry up in that process, we have high quality innovative companies that just need help in accessing new foreign markets,” Momčilović said, noting that companies specialising in nutritionism, IT, bio-medicine, energy and food production should be given incentives.
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