Mate Rimac, Croatia's golden entrepreneur gave an example to the Croatian Government when it comes to attracting investment and the automotive industry - that example was Slovakia.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 6th of July, 2019, over in Slovakia, which is hardly on the other side of the world geographically, however seems to be in every other term when compared to Croatia; Kia provided incentives of as much as a billion euros, with which they built a brand new factory.
Two years ago, the young innovative Croatian entrepreneur Mate Rimac invested in developing a strategy for attracting the automotive industry to Croatia, and the project he presented to the Croatian Government was designed to be the basis for new measures for this sector, Marina Šunjerga writes for Večernji list.
As stated, the apparently endlessly talented Rimac found inspiration in the most successful country in this sector - Slovakia. The timing is now excellent considering that at this point, consideration is being taken in how to boost the development of electric car technology for the new century.
Rimac Automobili is a Croatian company that has been recognised as a real generator of knowledge and experience in producing the best electric batteries in the automotive world, with the development of the fastest electric car in the world, and there lies an opportunity for Croatia to take advantage of what Rimac has achieved against the odds and properly position itself the ''car map'' of the world.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenković briefly commented on yesterday's session of the Government on Rimac's initiative, saying that he believed his suggestions and ideas would be of particular importance to the Ministry of Economy for the further improvement of Croatia's investment and business climate, as well as other institutions through the aspect of education and the labour market, to contribute to further attracting the automotive industry to Croatia.
We have not yet heard the new measures that could attract companies such as Hyundai or Volkswagen to Croatia, and from the Ministry of the Economy, which Plenković has been pushing to develop new measures, they stated that Rimac and other automotive investors can count on all the measures within the Investment Promotion Act, which includes a reduction of the profit tax base and incentives for every new employee.
They also added that consideration is being given to the possibility that the realisation of a Rimac Campus would be facilitated by the Croatian Government, by giving the company land owned by the state.
This is a project that comes with a hefty price tag of between 80 and 100 million euros, which would include a centre for development and innovation for as many as 2000 employees.
While it all sounds straightforward enough, this is still Croatia, and the idea of realisation through land-delivery is not as feasible as it might sound at first, because they would have to go through a local unit that could eventually provide the company with a free location. This doesn't happen overnight.
With that land, Rimac would be able to count on all the standard incentives like all the other investors in this field do. According to the investment calculator, the investor would receive about 12 million kuna of direct incentives and about six million kuna of tax incentives in support for employment, which is a substantial amount for an investor as it exceeds 15 percent of the investment value.
Croatia gets a lot of bashing for its poor investment climate, but there are actually measures in place which are quite favourable, and although incentives in Croatia aren't small, the automotive industry's attraction to the country is spoiled by the poor attitude and the slow, cumbersome approach that has become synonymous with Croatia, and are looking for a much more proactive approach from politicians.
Slovakia has attracted billions of euros in investments over the past twenty years, resulting in the realisation of 34 large projects, and it's now the country with the highest number of cars per capita in the world. The project started with a smaller VW investment in Bratislava way back in 1993.
Slovakia cut profit tax from 40 all the way down to just 19 percent, and the investors completely free from having to pay tax for five years. Like Croatia, it offered quite handsome incentives in terms of employment, and he Slovakian politicians were at the disposal of investors. VW has invested 302 million euros in Slovakia so far, and has received tens of millions of euros in incentives from the Slovaks. It's a relationship which works harmoniously, and is also something that is difficult to imagine for Croatia and its draconian laws and rates.
Could everything be about to change? Has spending time with the amazing Mate Rimac opened the Croatian Government's tightly closed eyes? Only time will tell.
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