ZAGREB, February 28, 2020 - Croatia's economy grew by 2.5% in the fourth quarter of 2019 compared to Q4 2018, which is a lower rate than in Q3, when economic growth was at 2.9%.
The national statistical office (DZS) on Friday published its preliminary estimate, which shows that GDP saw an annual increase of 2.5% in Q4 2019, the 22nd consecutive quarter to see an increase in GDP albeit lower than in the previous quarter.
In 2019 GDP grew by 2.9%, which is more than the year before, when the growth rate was 2.65%.
The faster GDP growth in 2019 was mostly owing to a strong, 4.1% increase in the first quarter, while in the second quarter GDP grew 2.4% and in the third it rose 2.9% on the year.
The biggest positive contribution to GDP growth in Q4 2019 came from an increase in the export of goods and services and household consumption, the DZS says.
On the other hand, the contribution of net external demand was negative.
Household consumption in Q4 grew by 4% compared to the same period of the year before, which is a faster growth than in Q3, when household consumption grew by 3.1%.
The export of goods and services grew in Q4 by 5.6% on the year, which is higher than the 5.1% growth recorded in the previous quarter.
The export of goods grew by 2.1% and the export of services jumped by 12.1%.
The import of goods and services rose by 0.1% on the year, much less than in the previous quarter, when it rose by 4.3%.
The import of goods rose by 0.8% while the import of services dropped by 3.1%.
In Q4, investments in fixed assets rose by 4% on the year, which is a decrease compared to a 5% increase in the previous quarter.
Government spending also grew in Q4, by 3.5% on the year, which is faster than in Q3, when government spending grew at a rate of 2.9%.
According to seasonally adjusted data, GDP in Q4 grew by 0.3% compared to the previous quarter while on the year it grew by 2.7%.
The GDP growth rate is higher than the EU average considering that Eurostat recently said that the EU economy in Q4 2019 grew by 1.2% on the year and by 0.1% on the quarter.
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