Business

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić said on Thursday that new measures for the enterprise sector would be made today and that most existing COVID-19 restrictions would stay, describing plans by some cafe and restaurant owners to stage protests as pointless. "Today new measures will be adopted for the enterprise sector in the context of the current epidemiological situation. Depending on the dynamic of those measures, the government will continually monitor the sector and look for funds to help it for as long as the restrictions are in force," Ćorić told reporters ahead of a…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - Generally speaking, mandatory membership in the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) has a negative impact on Croatia's competitiveness, shows an analysis by Dagmar Radin for the Lipa taxpayers' association, in which the author says that a reform of the HGK is an increasingly likely prospect. Radin believes that mandatory membership in the HGK negatively affects competitiveness by increasing the regulatory burden on businesses, possible corruption and greater conflict of interest in the chamber's work and that it reveals an inability to amend the legislative framework and lack of a long-term vision. Also, mandatory membership increases administrative terms…

ZAGREB, 28 January 2021 - The Croatian Employers Association (HUP) said on Thursday the measures to help the economy should be extended for as long as the consequences of the coronavirus crisis were felt. HUP said in a press release it would continue to negotiate with the government on new measures given that the current ones were in place until the end of February, adding that the uncertainty was not good either for employers or their workers. The shorter working hours measure was adopted at HUP's initiative and is in place until the end of the year, which provides for "transparency and predictability in doing…

January the 28th, 2021 - EU funds have proven an excellent resource for Croatia, with numerous previously planned projects being given the proper means of financing to get them from documentation stage to fruition. Over 90 Croatian level crossings are next in line to receive an EU cash injection. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, HZ Infrastruktura (Infrastructure) (HZI) is embarking on a major project involving the reconstruction and modernisation of 94 Croatian level crossings (railway) and one pedestrian crossing across he country, the total value of the work stands at 208.7 million kuna. Most of it will be provided through…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - The Catering and Tourism Guild within the Croatian Chamber of Trades and Crafts (HOK) on Wednesday urged the authorities to specify short-term and long-term measures to bail out the hospitality sector against the background of the epidemiological situation and poor conditions in that sector. HOK recalls in its press release on Wednesday that the hospitality and tourism sectors along with other related businesses, have been worst affected by the pandemic and most businesses in that sector have not worked for more than two months as a result of the COVID response team's decisions. "The hospitality sector is more than aware of…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - The European Union has approved a plan that includes giving state aid in 12 EU member-states to support the production of electric vehicle batteries, the Reuters news agency has reported. The funding or the project called "European Battery Innovation" will come from France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Greece, Poland, Slovakia, Spain and Sweden. It also aims to attract 9 billion euros from private investors, the European Commission said on Tuesday. The European Commission’s approval of the 2.9 billion euro ($3.5 billion) European Battery Innovation project, follows the launch in 2017 of the European Battery…

ZAGREB, 27 January 2021 - Minister of Labour, Pension System, Family and Social Policy Josip Aladrović said on Wednesday that so far HRK 433 million had been paid for job-keeping measures in November and about HRK 350 million in December, disagreeing with claims that payments were late.  Asked by reporters ahead of an inner cabinet meeting to comment on the statement by Varaždin County Prefect Radimir Čačić that job-keeping payments to entrepreneurs were late, Aladrović said that he could not agree with Čačić because practically everything that needed to be done for November had been done, and that payments were being made according to schedule. All the other measures…

ZAGREB, 26 January, 2021 - The timber company DI Spačva stated on Tuesday that prospective buyers had started conducting due diligence in this Vinkovci-based company. "The process of due diligence has been launched by prospective buyers," the company said in a brief statement on the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE). The statement makes no mention of who the potential buyers are. The Spačva Group consists of five factories: a sawmill, a parquet production plant, a final products factory, a veneer factory, and a bio-fuels factory. The current majority owner is Quaestus Private Equity Kapital II, which holds a 75.81% interest in the company. In late 2020,…

January 25, 2021 - Dubrovnik expects HRK 14 million in tourist tax from cruisers this year, which will be used exclusively to improve the road infrastructure in the Dubrovnik area. Slobodna Dalmacija reports that at the Dubrovnik City Council session scheduled for Tuesday, the amount of tourist tax for cruise ships in international maritime traffic in 2022 will be discussed.  Recall, Article 11 of the Tourist Tax Act stipulates that a ship on a cruise in international maritime traffic and international traffic on inland waters, when it is at berth in the port or anchored at the port, may pay the…

January the 26th, 2021 - Will Croatian establishment owners end up taking to the streets to protest the ongoing measures banning their work, or will they opt for a situation in which everyone opens and begins working again despite what the National Civil Protection Headquarters say? As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Croatian establishment owners who are banned from working have stated that they are very much ready to start working again as soon as possible, claiming that people are now running out of energy, bars are having to permanently close every single day and that as a sector they are thinking…