Business

ZAGREB, June 3, 2020 - A HRK 1 million donation of the International Medical Corps from the USA was presented to Croatia's Health Ministry on Wednesday by the head of the Croatian office of that global humanitarian organization, Ivana Petkovic. The donation, delivered to the Croatian civil protection directorate's logistic centre in Jastrebarsko, consists of 70,400 KN95 ventilator masks, 12,000 face shields, and 18 pulse oximeters. The donation is aimed at contributing to the protection of Croatian medical staff against the coronavirus. Seeing that Zagreb and its environs were struck by the March 22 devastating earthquake which put some of the health institutions and medical equipment out of…

ZAGREB, June 3, 2020 - In 2019, foreign direct investments in Croatia totaled €1.24 billion, up 19% on the year, and that was the highest annual amount of FDI since 2014. The highest amount (€286 million) came from Luxembourg, followed by Austria (€257M), Slovenia (€140.8M) and Germany (€135M). A major outflow was generated with Switzerland (€157.8M). From 1993 through 2019, Croatia received €31.8 billion in FDI. In that period, banking accounted for over 22% of FDI, followed by investments in wholesale (9.3%) and real estate transactions (6.9%). Last year saw a major annual increase in direct ownership investments in real estate and manufacturing,…

June 2, 2020 - One of the things we have to accept as a part of our "new normal" life post-corona is that our temperature is going to be measured regularly when trying to enter some institutions. Thus, a Croatian company from Varaždin, ExaByte has created a system that will make it as simple and efficient as possible.  Ines Brežnjak writes for dnevno.hr about the ExaByte company. They have been in business for 12 years now, working on the development of sophisticated IT solutions with implementations in numerous industries (including advanced systems for news websites, the integration of the current…

ZAGREB, June 1, 2020 - The Association of Croatian Travel Agencies  (UHPA) on Monday commended the government's decision to give jobkeeping grants to travel agencies again in June, and expects the authorities to continue providing strong support to travel agencies hardest hit by the crisis. "The continuation of the application of support measures for travel agencies in June is a result of the well-argumented  requests which UHPA has sent to the tourism ministry and because of the fact that the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) accepted those arguments," the UHPA president Tomislav Fain says. Fain recalls that considering the fact that they have suffered huge…

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of June, 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic continues but the tourism industry begins to put the state of the economy in first place, the last minute trend in Croatian tourism has already started, meaning that tourists can now can jump on a plane and go on holiday in June with discounts from between 10 and 25 percent. The Republic of Croatia always swung between being expensive and cheap. The hotels are typically expensive, but eating out in restaurants tends to be quite easy on the pocket. The coronavirus pandemic has altered the view…

ZAGREB, June 1, 2020 - Public Administration Minister Mario Banozic said on Monday it was customary for investors to try to create a more favourable position in "cases" in which the state was the owner in order to shorten the procedure, but that "you don't do it" if it was estimated to be bad for the state. "That's a customary procedure when it comes to investors. Everyone tries to pay as little as possible, shorten procedures as much as possible," he told N1 television when asked if it was correct that Josipa Rimac, a member of the ruling HDZ arrested on…

ZAGREB, June 1, 2020 - Labour Minister Josip Aladrovic said on Sunday up to 100,000 workers would be entitled to money from the government's job-retention measures, which would be adopted month by month, and that he expected shorter working hours in June. "We decided to adopt decisions month by month so that we can follow the situation the whole time," he said on Nova TV, adding that "up to HRK 400 million for June will be paid in July" and the state budget would not be tapped for that. "In a way, we overestimated the number of beneficiaries in April…

As Novac/Korana Sutlic writes on the 31st of May, 2020, the Croatian real estate market has come to life in the area of ​​Kvarner and Istria, despite the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the shallowness of people's pockets. Among those who are particularly active are foreign buyers, who have clearly recognised Croatia's advantage in times of crisis and owning a house on the coast. This isn't surprising, because last weekend and last week in Kvarner, visits from wealthy foreign tourists were already going on in some places. ''We're witnessing a rapid adjustment of people to this new situation. A couple of…

ZAGREB, May 31, 2020 - The Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) has called on the Agriculture Ministry to amend the so-called wine envelope in order to help the viticulture and winemaking sector by allocating most of the HRK 43 million grants to be used to distill surplus wine and thus reduce unsold stock. The HGK said last Thursday that the crisis caused by the coronavirus had strongly impacted the sector of viticulture and winemaking, too. A survey conducted by the Chamber's Association of Wine Producers has shown that there are problems with the sale of about 50% to 60% of wine stock, and it is…

As Darko Bicak/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 29th of May, 2020, measures to help businesses and entrepreneurs in Croatia should be extended, AmCham warns as it discusses the Croatian economy. The American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia (AmCham) welcomes the recent Action Plan to reduce non-tax and parafiscal levies to help the Croatian economy recover and get back on its feet during the coronavirus crisis. In a set of recommendations to help the Croatian economy, AmCham has, among other things, announced measures to further reduce and eliminate parafiscal levies and indirect taxes. As Andrea Doko Jelusic, Executive Director of AmCham…