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Croatia Receives Some Straight-Talking from IMF

By 29 October 2017

The IMF gives Croatia twelve very serious tasks...

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 28th of October, 2017, the IMF has stated that the Croatian economy grows on the wings of tourism and that spending is at about three percent, which is fine, but the country needs investment as well.

The IMF has stated that if Croatia fails to implement key structural reforms, the growth of the Croatian economy will slow to about two percent by the year 2020 and will be at half of the growth rate of that which other transition countries will respectively realise. This will further increase the gap between Croatia's development and that of the rest of the European Union. This statement and the issuance of twelve key points represents a fundamental message from the IMF mission as a conclusion of their regular visits to the Republic of Croatia.

To summarise, the IMF has issued twelve serious recommendations and tasks that aim to better organise the state and use public resources more rationally, in order to open up more room for employment and investment, as well as encourage a very welcome increase in general income.

1. Sell dispersed and poorly used state property and reduce public debt

2. Social benefits should be streamlined and better targeted so that they are not obstacles to employment

3. Introduce a contemporary tax on property and real estate, reduce working tax

4. Increase Supplementary Health Insurance

5. Return HZZO to the state treasury, reduce the number of hospitals and centralise procurement

6. Reduce administrative burden on businesses

7. Too many companies are declared strategic, they're managed poorly

8. Reduce incentives for early retirement, raise the retirement age

9. Limit wage growth, gradually reduce the number of employees in administration

10. Digitise court proceedings, reduce legal process costs

11. The public debt should decrease more quickly, preferably below 60% by 2022

12. Increase labour market flexibility, especially in regard to employment

 

Translated from Poslovni.hr

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