Business

ZAGREB, April 3, 2020 - Opposition parties said in parliament on Friday that they would support the so-called April set of measures proposed by the government to mitigate the fallout from the corona crisis, however, they criticised the government that it was late in proposing the measures. Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić said that the proposals with the measures were put forward belatedly since thousands of people were losing their jobs. He recalled that this strongest Opposition party suggested that the compensation for keeping workers on a company's payroll should be 5,100 kuna instead of the government measure…

ZAGREB, April 3, 2020 - Turnover in the hospitality sector has dropped over 90% in the two weeks since the closure of establishments and due to social distancing and uncertainty about reopening, the COVID-19 pandemic is "Armageddon" for the sector, says the president of the national association of bar and restaurant owners. Locally and globally, bar and restaurant owners will be the hardest hit by this pandemic, Marin Medak tells Hina, voicing more concern about "what will happen, because recent estimates that at least 30% of establishments could be open in early July are no longer that optimistic, especially for…

ZAGREB, April 3, 2020 - The SSSH union federation on Friday called on the government to utilise the proposed instrument to reduce working hours that the European Commission has launched in addition to national regulations for the protection of workers and to assist entrepreneurs in bridging this crisis without layoffs. The EC has proposed a new model for temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) worth up to €100 billion which should be adopted at its meeting next week, and it contains short term measures to help protect jobs and workers affected by the coronavirus crisis. Joining…

Support for Croatian production and domestic producers has always been Konzum's priority, and this is best confirmed by the fact that around eighty percent of the fruit and vegetables sold by the company are of Croatian origin. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of April, 2020, at the initiative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Konzum itself, which offered small producers and OPGs Konzum's shelves to sell their products instead of the now closed markets, as many as 200 new small producers came forward and in the very first with of cooperation with Konzum, 70,000 pieces of lettuce, 18,000…

ZAGREB, April 3, 2020 - Standard & Poor's ratings agency has reaffirmed the credit rating for the Zagrebački Holding multi-utility conglomerate at 'B+', revising the company's outlook from stable to negative due to uncertainty regarding the city's ability to provide timely support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and the March 22 earthquake. In September 2019, S&P reaffirmed the long-term rating for Zagrebački Holding at 'B+' with a stable outlook. Following a rating downgrade for the City of Zagreb, the owner of the company, the agency revised the outlook on Zagrebački Holding on Wednesday, saying that it was not certain…

ZAGREB, April 3, 2020 - The European Commission has supported Croatian requests for financial aid to the fisheries sector, which is severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Thursday. Croatia was one of the initiators of changes to the EU legislative frameworks relating to the allocation of financial aid to the fisheries sector, the statement said. The economic slowdown caused by the COVID-19 epidemic has considerably hit the fisheries sector, an important economic branch of strategic importance for Croatia. Intense cooperation with the EU institutions and member states has resulted in a…

ZAGREB, April 2, 2020 - At the end of March 2020, over 143,000 persons were registered with the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ), with 13,264 registering in the last 15 days of March alone. On 16 March there were 134,717 persons registered with the HZZ, and at the end of March that number was 143,454, which is an increase of 8,737 persons, shows data given to Hina by the HZZ. However, in that period 13,262 new persons were registered with the HZZ, of which 12,260 persons registered immediately after their employment contract had been terminated. At the same time 4,546 persons…

ZAGREB, April 2, 2020 - The Online Vacancy Index (OVI) for March reflects a break in social and economic activities caused by the coronavirus pandemic, with the demand for service-sector occupations falling and the demand for healthcare occupations and construction workers growing, the Zagreb Institute of Economics (EIZ) says. Compared with March 2019, the OVI fell by 23.3%, while seasonally adjusted index values indicate an 18.5% decrease compared with the previous month. "This is a strong decline on a monthly level, which still cannot be compared to 2009 when the OVI index registered significantly stronger declines," the EIZ said on…

ZAGREB, April 2, 2020 - Agriculture Minister Marija Vučković on Thursday announced that the ministry was planning to intervene and buy up 500,000 litres of milk in an effort to help small dairy farmers faced with problems in doing business due to the coronavirus epidemic. This extraordinary measure refers to buying up milk from 28 small dairy farms that produce 14 million litres of milk a year. Due to the difficulties to approach farmers' markets and inability to sell their milk in specialised closed shops, a surplus of milk has accumulated, storage facilities are full and this could lead to…

The economic consequences of the coronavirus outbreak are potentially dire, and we're already seeing the negative effects the virus is having on the labour market, stock markets, and much more. With many Croatian companies having to deal with the brand new and utterly unexpected reality of not knowing whether or not they'll even exist in three months, these are truly nail biting times. As Frenki Lausic/Novac writes on the 2nd of April, 2020, in a new rating, the Fitch credit rating agency left the Republic of Croatia's main rating at BBB minus, which is encouragingly still at investment level, but lowered…