Business

ZAGREB, August 14, 2019 - Following the confirmation made by Serbia of the occurrence of African swine fever in some of pig farms in that country, Croatia's Agriculture Ministry on Wednesday called on pig farmers to strictly comply with preventive measures against this viral disease of pigs and wild boars. The purpose of preventive measures is to detect at early stages any transmission of the virus so as to fend off the outbreak of this disease in Croatia. The ministry cites a list of measures which pig farmers are supposed to take. Members of the general public in Croatia are…

As many as 8,589 companies with 60,182 employees have their seats in Zagreb County. Last year, they enjoyed revenues of 54 billion kuna, and profits of 1.9 billion kuna. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes on the 13th of August, 2019, the Lidl retail chain, the PIK Vrbovec meat industry and the retailer of medical equipment, Medical Intertrade, were the largest revenue generating companies in Zagreb County last year. Namely, according to the data taken from the Financial Agency (Fina) in 2018, according to the number of processed annual financial statements, 8,589 companies employing 60,182 workers had their seats in Zagreb…

ZAGREB, August 13, 2019 - The director of the 3. Maj shipyard, Edi Kučan, confirmed to Hina on Tuesday that the management of that Rijeka-based dock would today offer its creditors to sign statements whereby they would accept the payment of 15% of their claims from the dock right away while agreeing not to block the dock's bank account for the next two years over the remaining claims. This model was proposed to creditors by Assistant Economy Minister Zvonimir Novak at a meeting held in Rijeka on Monday. According to Novak, the creditors would sign statements whereby they would agree…

ZAGREB, August 13, 2019 - Investors from Croatia were the second leading foreign investors in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 and they are ranked second also in overall foreign investments in the neighbouring country, show data published by the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina on Monday. Investments in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018 amounted to 400 million euro, or 2.3% of GDP. The amount of foreign investments in 2018 was similar to that in 2017. Most foreign investments, totalling 71 million euro, came from Russia, while investments from Croatia amounted to 54 million euro. They were followed by investments…

ZAGREB, August 13, 2019 - At the end of April 2019, Croatia's gross foreign debt totalled 39.9 billion euro, 1.1 billion or 2.9% more than at the end of 2018. Raiffeisen Bank analysts have said that the increase in the gross foreign debt is due to the usual seasonal worsening of credit institutions' international position (in the amount of 347.5 million euro, an increase of 8.5%) and an increase in the central bank's foreign debt of 1.4 billion euros. The central government's foreign debt rose slightly, by 0.7%, while other domestic sectors reduced their gross obligations, the analysts said. The…

ZAGREB, August 13, 2019 - The Đuro Đaković Special Vehicles manufacturer concluded an 137 million kuna contract with its French client on the delivery of cargo wagons for the transport of sheet coils, the Slavonski Brod-based company stated on Monday. The delivery of the wagons of the Shimmns type will be conducted at the end of this year and during 2020. Wagons of this type are 4-axle closed vehicles for the transportation of sheet rolls, primarily for the automotive industry. The Đuro Đaković Special Vehicles manufacturer "has developed, produced and delivered a greater number of different types of freight wagons…

It seems that all we ever hear and read about (and indeed write about) is the shortage of qualified staff in Croatia. Although the issue existed to a much lesser extent before, ever since Croatia joined the European Union back in July 2013, meaning that freedom of movement of labour was adopted as one of the fundamental freedoms of the Union - the situation has grown into a burning problem. Croats are leaving the country in their droves in search of a better life, higher wages, more job security and an overall better economic situation in richer Western European countries…

ZAGREB, August 12, 2019 - The Lipa taxpayers' association has recently launched an online petition against the introduction of taxes on sugar in non-alcoholic beverages and against plans to increase taxes on cigarettes and alcohol. Lipa, which describes itself as "the voice of taxpayers in public discourse", has stated that the taxation of drinks with added sugar and higher tobacco and alcohol taxes "will improve nothing in your lives". It will only increase the amount of money made available to the "too wasteful state", Lipa says in a press release. The NGO is against a new tax being imposed on…

The Croatian company 8Sigma, which is based in Zagreb, has developed an IT solution that connects conveyor belts to ERP and thus monitors production in real time. As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 11th of August, 2019, 8Sigma, a Croatian software company from Zagreb which employs only ten people, won against seven international corporations with 10 to 150,000 employees. The Croatian company won in a tender/competition which involved one of the strongest aluminum factories in the world and represents a joint venture of America's Alcoa, one of the largest global aluminum manufacturers that currently exists, and the Saudi manufacturer…

August 11, 2019 - And why does 80% of the Croatian private sector have no expectations from the most important political mandate Croatia has taken on since entering the EU? Croatia will assume the EU Presidency for the first half of 2020. We are delighted to welcome Aco Momcilovic to TCN who looks at some of the issues surrounding Croatia's preparations for this role in his first article for us. Aco is currently the President of MBA Croatia, the former head of HR for Rimac Automobili, who now runs his own HR firm, FutureHR.  Welcome, Aco.  To answer this question…