ZAGREB, Aug 26, 2020 - Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Wednesday the GDP drop in this year's second quarter was expected to be larger than the largest drop during the global financial crisis.
The national statistical office is expected to issue a report on GDP in Q2 on Friday.
Responding to questions from the press, Maric said the government would present new forecasts for the whole year in the first two weeks of September.
The largest GDP drop to date, of 8.8%, was recorded in Q1 2009, at the start of the global financial crisis.
Six analysts polled by Hina expect GDP to drop 13.9% year on year. This will be the first drop since mid-2014 and the largest since 2000.
Maric said everyone realized how much the state-supported the economy this year via job retention measures, but added that this could not be done indefinitely.
New programs are opening up, such as the EU's SURE program, from which Croatia is expected to receive €1 billion in favorable loans which will most likely be used to finance a shorter working week.
Maric said Croatia fared even better with the Next Generation EU instrument, the coronavirus recovery plan in which Croatia will have €9.4 billion at its disposal. He said the big challenge now was to draw the highest amount possible as quickly and as effectively as possible.
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