ZAGREB, January 24, 2018 – Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday he was happy that President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović had recognised good economic indicators and that for the government the idea was not only to have good indicators, but for those indicators to be visible in the living standard.
Marić said this to the press before the government session, asked to comment on the President’s statement.
Marić also said that salaries in the industrial sector were up – the average gross salary last year went up 4% and when the effects of the tax reform are taken into account, the average net wage increased by 5.5%.
Consumption in December was record high, Croats spent one billion kuna more than expected. “All of these indicators are visible in the living standard,” Marić said.
President Grabar-Kitarović earlier today welcomed what had been done so far, adding however that that’s not enough. “It is necessary to adopt measures, as soon as possible, that will increase job security, notably for pregnant women and mothers of small children, and bring to the minimum the number of fixed-term employment contracts,” Grabar-Kitarović said.
Noting that increasingly good macroeconomic results were being emphasised recently, including those on improved state finances, she said that this was encouraging and should be welcomed but that citizens had to be able to feel it as well.
“If the state is recording increasingly good financial results, then citizens must be able to feel it in their bank accounts. Unfortunately, the number of people with frozen bank accounts continues to exceed 300,000. It is a national tragedy that many of them are leaving the country… to start their life anew abroad,” she said, calling on the government to urgently adopt measures to deal with the problem of frozen bank accounts.
Asked if he was offended by the president’s criticism, Marić replied: “I don’t plan to express any particular emotion about that issue. It is her job to warn and speak her mind and it is up to us in the government, as the executive authority, to work responsibly,” Marić said.
He added that nothing could happen overnight and once again spoke about the effects of the tax reform.
