The global coronavirus pandemic which halted tourism and created unprecedented circumstances across the board had tremendously negative effects on the domestic economy. Tourism, being the strongest economic branch this country has, making up 20 percent of Croatian GDP, took a hit like no other as planes stopped arriving. Things, however, seem to be on the up despite ongoing spiralling inflation and the horrific situation still unfolding in Ukraine following Russian invasion earlier this year.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced in its September 2022 report on regional economic forecasts that Croatian GDP growth this year will amount to 6.5 percent, while next year it will slow down to 2 percent.
Compared to the report which was issued back in May this year, this is a doubling of Croatian GDP growth for this year, while the forecast for 2023 has worsened, given that the EBRD expected an increase of 3.5 percent.
In the 38 countries in which the EBRD operates, economic growth will amount to 3 percent next year. This is a significant reduction when it comes to initial expectations, considering the fact that back in the May report, economic growth of 4.7 percent was expected.
As for this year, the bank expects Croatia’s immediate region to grow economically by 2.3 percent, which is a significant improvement. Back in May, the EBRD expected a growth of a mere 1.2 percent.
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