ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - Income tax refunds for 2021 will be paid as of 2 May and 664,000 citizens will receive HRK 1.7 billion in total, while 91,000 citizens have to pay HRK 316 million into the state budget in due taxes, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday.

Speaking to the press, he said 146,000 of those eligible for a refund were young people and that they would receive HRK 640 million in total.

Marić said the 7.8% inflation the government forecast for this year was the highest in Croatia's recent history.

Earlier today, the government adopted Croatia's convergence programme for 2023-25, which will be sent to Brussels for assessment and is relevant for Croatia's euro area accession.

Marić expects certain information and reports in late May or early Junefrom the European Commission and the European Central Bank, to be followed by the testing of the Maastricht criteria.

He said the inflation growth was not expected to threaten Croatia's accession to the euro area.

Asked if there would be additional anti-inflation measures, Marić said the government was monitoring developments and that action would be taken if necessary and in line with possibilities.

He called on all other actors to stand united so that the slashed VAT rates could have the desired effects in terms of more favourable prices for citizens.

Marić said the current inflationary pressures were much higher than those which might occur with the introduction of the euro. For seven countries which introduced the euro, the effect on inflation was 0.2 to 0.4 percentage points in the first year and it was a one-time effect, he added.

Marić said such increases should not be ignored, so before and after the euro was introduced, prices would be shown in both currencies for a while so that they were not raised without justification.

Asked if the budget deficit forecast for this year, of HRK 13.36 billion or 2.8% of GDP, included additional funds for debts in the health sector, he said some funds would be ensured for that in a budget revision.

He said the revision had not been drawn up yet and that it could be passed in mid-May.

The minister said representatives of drug wholesalers regularly informed him and the minister of health about the debts. "Unfortunately, these debts keep increasing," he said, adding that the health minister and his associates are working on a health reform expected to curb the constant debt growth.

Marić also commented on a Finance Ministry bill that would allow the State Prosecutor's Office, the police, and the customs and tax authorities to access corporate and citizens' bank accounts.

According to the ministry, the bill incorporates the latest EU directive against money laundering, tax evasion and other forms of financial crime.

Marić said that, under the bill, the State Prosecutor's Office and the Interior Ministry first and foremost would have access to the accounts register run by the Financial Agency.

That does not mean they will have access to the amount in the account or transactions, only to basic personal information on the holder, he added, dismissing media claims that the law would give every clerk access to anyone's account.

For more, check out our politics section.

April 27, 2022 - Croatia fans can apply for 2022 World Cup tickets until Thursday, April 28 at 11:00 am!

After more than 800,000 World Cup tickets were sold in the first phase, the ticket sales period opened on the website https://www.fifa.com/tickets (with a random draw if there is a higher number of entries than the number of available tickets), which runs until Thursday, April 28 at 11:00 Central European Time, reports HNS.

Until that deadline, it is possible to apply for tickets for the Croatia national team matches. Croatia will play in Group F against Morocco (November 23), Canada (November 27), and Belgium (December 1). All national teams are entitled to eight percent of the stadium capacity in the group stage and approximately eight percent of the stadium capacity in the continuation of the competition (depending on the stadium configuration). For fan tickets, you can apply via the following link: www.fifa.com/fanticketingportals

In this sales period, there will be no difference whether applications are submitted on the first, last, or any other day in between as all tickets will be awarded after the end of the application period. In cases where the number of registered tickets exceeds the available contingent, tickets will be allocated through a random selection procedure.

All fans will be notified of the outcome of their applications no later than Tuesday, May 31, with the steps to follow if they can purchase tickets and the deadline by which they must pay for the tickets awarded.

The prices of individual tickets for the first phase of the competition are 250 (3rd category), 600 (2nd category), and 800 (1st category) Qatari riyals. Prices for the round of 16 are 385, 825 and 1,100 riyals, for the quarterfinals 825, 1,155 and 1,705, for the semifinals 1,430, 2,640 and 3,828, for the third-place match 825, 1,210 and 1,705, and for the final 2,420, 4,015 and 6,435 riyals.

All ticket information can be found at https://www.fifa.com/tickets, and ticket prices at the following link.

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 27, 2022 - Last year, foreign citizens bought 9,514 properties of real estate in Croatia, which is a high increase of 50 percent compared to 2020.

According to research done by Jutarnji List with information from the Croatian Tax Administration, the highest year-on-year growth in the purchase of real estate in Croatia among foreigners was achieved by citizens of Germany, Austria, and Slovenia, reports tportal.hr.

Last year, German citizens bought 2,637 properties in Croatia, which is an increase of 1,089 sales or even 70 percent compared to 2020, Austrians made 1,109 purchases (472 more properties or an increase of 74 percent compared to 2020), while Slovenians last year became the owners of 2309 properties in our country, achieving an increase in purchases compared to the previous year by 32 percent or 550 more properties.

"The data do not show the total purchase and sale of real estate in 2020 and 2021, but only the sale of real estate for which the Tax Administration conducted the procedure of determining the tax base. In addition, data on real estate sales are still being updated ", they note in the Tax Administration and suggest that, in the end, the growth in the number of real estate sales made by foreigners with sellers in Croatia could be even higher.

In any case, the registered growth of foreigners' demand for domestic real estate confirms the recent allegations of entrepreneurs and real estate market experts who told Jutarnji list that the increased interest of foreigners in domestic real estate is one of the reasons for unprecedented growth in new apartment prices in the last quarter of last year.

Namely, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, the purchase prices of new dwellings in the last quarter of last year were 15 percent higher than the prices realized in the last quarter of 2020: such growth has not been recorded in the last decade. In addition, the average prices of all residential real estate purchases in 2021 were 7.3 percent higher than in 2020.

For more, check out our business section.

In addition to real estate prices, rental properties have also risen sharply, especially expensive properties such as villas and luxury hotels.

April 27, 2022 - Nineteen rowers from the Ukrainian rowing team will be preparing in Zagreb for the 2022 World Rowing Cup in Belgrade.

Croatia continues to show a big heart and desire to help the Ukrainian people, and this time the athletes are helping. As a result of the war in Ukraine, the Ukrainian Rowing Federation sent a request to the Croatian Rowing Federation for help in organizing and financing the Ukrainian Rowing Team in Croatia. The HVS undertook all possible preliminary work on realizing their request and, in cooperation with the Croatian Olympic Committee, the Zagreb Sports Facilities Management Institution, the Zagreb Rowing Federation, and the Zagreb Rowing Clubs managed to meet their needs.

“As athletes, we are aware that words are never enough and that deeds are what counts. Therefore, we are honored and obliged to help our Ukrainian colleagues, and I am sure that they would have done the same if the situation had been reversed," said Damir Martin.

The President of the Croatian Rowing Federation, Branimir Bašić, also commented: “Sporting spirit is not only of a competitive nature, but sporting spirit is something much more than that, and this is best seen in moments like this. It is said that the closest description of the sport itself is "autonomy of morals", and it implies acceptance of moral principles of tolerance, humanity, respect, and understanding that helping is a human duty, coming out of ourselves, adopting human because we belong to the human race as such."

The Ukrainian rowing team, which includes 19 rowers and their team of coaches and physiotherapists, arrived in Zagreb on Monday, April 25, and will remain until the beginning of the World Rowing Cup, to be held from May 27 to 29, 2022, in Belgrade.

Well done to Croatian rowers for coming together in a time of need! 

Photos by Berislav Rožman

To follow the latest sports news in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

April 27, 2022 - Economist Damir Novotny was a guest on N1 Television's ''Novom Danu'', and commented on how certain is it that Russia will suspend gas to Croatia based on recent threats to Bulgaria and Poland.

Novotny said Russia's threat to stop supplying gas to Poland and Bulgaria is in some ways a warning to the entire European Union, as the Polish and Russian governments clash most verbally, reports Index.hr.

The economic analyst pointed out that he did not think that Russia would make a decision to stop supplying gas to Croatia.

"It is possible that Russia will suspend gas to Croatia, of course, but it is uncertain and we cannot predict anything because the Russian political elite is unpredictable at the moment, Putin's decisions are completely unpredictable, we cannot be sure about the direction of his decisions, especially economic ones'', said Novotny.

''He told the Russian public that the sanctions did not cause any damage to the Russian economy, which is simply not true. So I don’t believe there will be drastic blockades'', added Novotny.

What does an early warning about the gas situation mean?

He also explained what the government's early warning measure due to the gas situation means.

"This is a mechanism used by the governments of all European countries when gas storage facilities are emptied over the winter and refilled over the summer, and if the storage tenants do not refuel or do not fill it with that dynamic, prices are high and they are expected to fall over the summer to refill them, but that’s ungrateful because it’s hard to estimate gas prices at the moment. It is possible that it will start to descend during the summer, but it is not certain. All supply chains will be disrupted, Russian gas will not come to the EU market in the amount we are used to and prices will not fall over the summer'', Novotny said.

As for the norms of strategic stocks, he said that, according to publicly available information, we are below those stocks in terms of the amount of gas.

Gazprom: We are suspending gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland

Recall, Russian energy giant Gazprom claims to have cut off all gas supplies to both Bulgaria and Poland after both countries refused to start paying for deliveries in rubles.

Earlier, both Polish and Bulgarian gas suppliers said they had received official notifications from Gazprom that supplies would be suspended.

At one point early Wednesday, physical gas flows along the Yamal-Europa gas pipeline from Belarus to Poland fell to zero, but then gas supplies resumed. But then Gazprom confirmed that gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria were suspended.

For more, check out our politics section.

ZAGREB, 27 Apr 2022 - President Zoran Milanović's statement that the accession of Sweden and Finland to NATO should be blocked will not change the good relations between Croatia and Finland, Finnish Ambassador to Zagreb, Kalle Kankaanpää, told Hina on Wednesday.

"I don't think anything will change in relations between Croatia and Finland", the diplomat said, adding that bilateral relations have always been good at all levels.

"I have been here as ambassador for more than a year. I closely follow politics in this country and am familiar with the way politics are run in Croatia", the Finnish ambassador said.

Kankaanpää explained that on Tuesday his minister of foreign affairs, Pekka Haavisto, had a good conversation with his Croatian counterpart, Gordan Grlić Radman, and that he himself had contacts with representatives of the parliament and government.

In Finland, an active discussion is ongoing on whether the country should join NATO or not, a final decision can be expected in May, the ambassador said.

On Tuesday, Croatian President Zoran Milanović said that Finland and Sweden could not join NATO before the election law in Bosnia and Herzegovina was changed.

The Croatian parliament "must not ratify anyone's accession to NATO" until Bosnia and Herzegovina changes its election law, he told the press. The accession of Finland and Sweden can be discussed, but it is "a very dangerous adventure," Milanović added.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated politics section.

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - The volume of industrial sales in Croatia in February 2022 was 21.9% higher than in February 2021 and 6.9% higher than in January 2022, according to figures released by the Croatian Bureau of Statistics. 

Compared with February 2021, industrial sales increased by 19.3% on the domestic market and by 25.7% on foreign markets.

Broken down by main industrial groupings, sales of durable consumer goods increased by 46.6%, sales of energy by 44.0%, sales of intermediate goods by 32.3%, sales of capital goods by 16.2% and sales of non-durable consumer goods by 11.3%.

Industrial sales had been on the rise since the beginning of 2021, with the exception of February when they dropped by 7.7%. The lowest annual increase, of 1.7%, was recorded in January, after which double-digit increases were recorded, and the highest in April 2021, of 40.6%.

Compared with January 2022, industrial sales went up by 7.6% on both the domestic and foreign markets.

Month on month, sales of durable consumer goods increased by 33.7%, sales of energy by 28.6%, sales of intermediate goods by 12.9% and sales of capital goods by 7.3%, while sales of non-durable consumer goods remained unchanged.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.

ZAGREB, 27 April 2022 - The government forecasts a 3% rise in GDP in 2022 and it expects the budget deficit to narrow to 2.8% of GDP, and the government debt to fall to 76.2% of GDP and an inflation rate of 7.8%, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said opening a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

The government expects real GDP to increase by three percent in 2022, which will be followed by a growth of 4.4% in 2023, then 2.7% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025.

A gradual narrowing of the budget deficit is expected and that being 2.8% of GDP in 2022, 1.6% in 2023 and 2024 then 1.2% of GDP in 2025.

The government's 2023-2025 Convergence Programme expects government debt to decrease from 79.8% of GDP in 2021 to 76.2% in 2022, 71.7% in 2023, then to 68.9% in 2024 and 66.9% in 2025.

The government estimates an inflation rate of 7.8% and for it to decrease significantly in the years to come (3.7% in 2023 and 2.5% in 2024).

The Convergence Programme is a document that the government presents every year within the framework of the European Semester. It defines the framework and objectives of the government's economic policy, macroeconomic and fiscal trends as well as key structural reforms in the medium term.

The government is also expected to adopt the National Reform Programme today which, according to Plenković, is based on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. It contains 95 measures in six areas (the same areas as the Recovery Plan): economy, pubic administration, judiciary and state assets; education, science and research; labour market and social welfare; health and building reconstruction.

For more, make sure to check out our dedicated business section.