Business

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) said on Wednesday it had agreed with the European Central Bank (HNB) to set up a precautionary currency agreement, known as a swap line, that will allow the HNB to borrow up to €2 billion from the ECB in exchange for Croatian kuna. The HNB said in a press release that the precautionary currency swap line would be activated if needed. "The currency swap line allows for the exchange of the kuna for the euro in the amount of EUR 2bn," the national bank said. This swap line gives the…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - President Zoran Milanović on Wednesday called on banks to offer, under clearly defined criteria, an interest-free loan repayment moratorium of 12 months to workers, the self-employed, and small and micro businesses affected by the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. "Since in normal circumstances those categories of debtors meet their obligations towards banks in the most regular manner and since the Croatian National Bank has relaxed supervision of the banking sector, this move would show that banks are actively participating in the process of maintaining economic activity," Milanović said in a Facebook post. He notes…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - The political platform "We Can!" said on Wednesday that the Tax Administration should be tasked with controlling how state grants for keeping jobs during the corona crisis are used by employers who are entitled to that measure. This non-parliamentary political group thus responded to statements made by the Tax Administration head, Božidar Kutleša, that dealing with possible misuse of the funding granted under the government's job preservation scheme to employers for furloughed employees was not within the remit of the tax authority. This political group says in a press release that it is unacceptable that…

April 15, 2020 — The coronavirus pandemic effectively nixed any hope of "normal" summer tourism filled with European vacationers and jet setters from all corners of the world. The Croatian government, like many others in Europe, will try to salvage "the season" by drawing a key demographic: locals. More and more countries are urging their citizens to spend their holidays within their own borders this year, announcing financial measures that would encourage summer vacations somewhere near home. The Croatian tourism sector will likely rely on local guests this year. The third set of financial measures discussed by the government could…

April 15, 2020 — The coronavirus crisis activated 3D printers across Croatia, with an impromptu unification of about 100 people all around the country providing medical professionals with much-needed supplies, according to Jutarnji List. Among the more active are Osijek residents, who have printed about five hundred protective visors for medical professionals every week since the crisis began. The whole initiative started virtually, via a Facebook group. "We have a group called '3D print experts Croatia,' which is the largest gathering our kind in our country," IT expert Valent Turković told the paper. In addition to making visors, he and a…

ZAGREB, April 15, 2020 - Croatian citizens have spent HRK 1.2 billion over the Easter holidays, down 14 percent from last year when they spent 1.4 billion, according to the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK). According to the Tax Authority, a turnover of HRK 976 million was generated in trade and HRK 838.3 million in retail between Holy Thursday and Easter Monday. Although this is a significant fall, these figures show that the economy has not stopped, despite lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus, a HGK official said. Given that the said figures do not include sales results generated by…

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - In 2020 Croatia's economy will contract by nine percent, the most in the group of emerging European economies, shows the latest global economic forecast of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), published on Tuesday. The coronavirus pandemic has been strongly impacting economic activity, shows the latest forecast, reflecting the consequences of quarantine and other stringent measures with which governments around the globe have been trying to fight the new, highly contagious virus. According to the latest IMF forecast, Croatia's GDP will drop by 9% this year. For the sake of comparison, last autumn, before the outbreak…

April 14, 2020 - So what do Croatia's entrepreneurs think about using the Government's new economic measures? Some Glas Poduzetnika surveys.  In the surveys conducted while the new set of measures still hasn't been adopted, we received information that just under 7% of entrepreneurs were using the initially proposed measures and that around 70% of them were waiting for a better set of measures. Taking into account that after the first undertaken initiatives of Glas Poduzetnika that came to the realization, we also collected the new data on the use of economic measures. The first question was, "Do you use…

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - Croatia's commercial accommodation facilities recorded increases in tourist arrivals and overnight stays in February compared with the same month last year, of 5.4% and 11.1% respectively, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS). Industry professionals and analysts agree that positive results could hardly be expected in the coming months given the spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the closure of hotels, camps and other accommodation establishments as well as restaurants. Figures from the e-Visitor system for March have indicated considerable declines in tourist arrivals and overnight stays, and Tourism Minister Gari Cappelli…

ZAGREB, April 14, 2020 - The GONG election monitoring NGO on Tuesday called on the Croatian government to publish on a monthly basis a list of employers covered by the COVID-19 aid scheme, the total amount of subsidies and the number of workers receiving support, saying that this was the best safeguard against the possible misuse of funds. "The public has to know who the employers are that are receiving subsidies worth billions of kuna under the job retention scheme during the coronavirus pandemic. In these extraordinary circumstances it is certainly important to protect jobs, but also to insist on…