Business

ZAGREB, July 5, 2019 - Investments in research, innovation and human resources are the key to Slavonia's development which requires the cooperation of all relevant stakeholders, it was heard at a conference on the development experience of the region of Emilia-Romagna and its complementarity with the regions of Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem, held by the World Bank office in Croatia in Zagreb on Friday. The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds in July last year signed a three-year agreement with the World Bank on technical assistance in increasing growth and employment by implementing the Slavonia, Baranja and Srijem project.…

The most important representatives of the Croatian entrepreneur scene will get together, under the motto 'Let's Make Entrepreneurs the Leaders of the Society'. Croatian entrepreneurs are the ones that should become the initiators of the changes within the Croatian society, first and foremost by adopting fully the entrepreneurial mindset, and making it understood among the general public. Organized by the magazine Poduzetnik ('The Entrepeneur') and with the help of their programming partner, the esteemed consulting and revision company EY, the one-day event titled Poduzetnički mindset (The Entrepeneurial Mindset) will be held in Zagreb on September 12th, in the Music Academy…

As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of July, 2019, although for the past couple of years, mainly because of the enormous issues within and caused by the Agrokor crisis, the general speculation has been that the largest Russian bank, Sberbank, will eventually leave Croatia, and potentially even leave part of the country's closer region, but on Thursday, Sberbank clearly made it known that they're actively doing the opposite. Sberbank has concluded an exclusive partnership with the Norwegian company Auka, and has jointly made the world premiere of a new mobile payment platform called Settle in Zagreb. Csaba Soós,…

ZAGREB, July 4, 2019 - A hearing to determine whether conditions exist to launch bankruptcy proceedings for the Rijeka-based 3. Maj shipyard, scheduled for Thursday at Rijeka Commercial Court, was once again delayed, this time until August 1, as it was expected that more creditors would lift their blockade of the shipyard's account. Judge Liljana Ugrin said that the situation in the shipyard was rapidly changing and that according to the Fina financial agency the dock's debt has risen to 96.6 million kuna, 29.7 million of which refers to workers' wages. In the meantime, she has received information that one…

ZAGREB, July 4, 2019 - The budget transparency of all 576 local government units, expressed with the number of budget-related documents published on their websites, is 3.9 of the maximum number of 5, it was said at a conference on the budget transparency of counties, towns and municipalities in the period from November 2018 to March 2019, organised by the Institute of Public Finance (IJF) in Zagreb on Wednesday. Budget transparency has improved in relation to the previous survey, when it stood at 3.52 budget documents, but there are still local government units that do not make any of their…

ZAGREB, July 3, 2019 - Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said on Wednesday that Croatia would soon send in a letter of intent to join the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II), a sort of waiting room for eurozone entry. "In the letter we will specify things that we plan to fulfil in the next 12 to 18 months and then we will see what comes next," Marić told reporters ahead of a meeting of the National Council for the adoption of the euro as legal tender in Croatia. "The better we do our homework, the better the effects for all Croatian…

As Novac/Dora Koretic writes on the 2nd of July, 2019, there's nobody in Croatia who hasn't been slightly irritated that Croatia has become known as ''ATM country" over recent days. Owing to that, many are calling for a boycott of the owners of the spaces these ugly cash machines are placed in. Dubrovnik being one of the loudest. Residents' protests are being organised, liberal capitalists are being cursed, mayors and other people from city administrations are being called on, and the dreaded cash machines are wanted out of Croatia's many historical town and city centres. Far from defending this proverbial…

ZAGREB, July 2, 2019 - The Croatian association of restaurant owners warned on Tuesday that the excessive tax burden was threatening the hospitality sector and called for VAT on food preparation and serving in restaurants to be reduced from 25% to 13%. The association warned that the tourism and hospitality sectors were on the verge of collapse in this situation of having to pay the highest VAT rate in Europe. Speaking on behalf of restaurant owners, Marin Medak and Vedran Jakominić told a press conference that they would address their demands to the government and relevant institutions to save the…

ZAGREB, July 2, 2019 - Economy Minister Darko Horvat said on Tuesday that GDP was growing primarily owing to the state's strong contribution to the implementation of major investment projects and that the second quarter would be better than the first, when GDP grew 3.9%. Speaking at a conference on exports, organised by the Lider business weekly, Horvat said that independent economic analysts last autumn said that private investments had been kick-started but that big state infrastructure projects were lacking. "That is what is happening now - investments worth 20 billion kuna. A 11 billion kuna investment cycle has been…

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 1st of July, 2019, Moscow alone has a budget of 40 billion euros, and it would be an idiotic move by Croatia to not take advantage of the potential this could bring to the country. ''Nobody has the power to invest as much into Croatia as Russia has, neither the European Union nor the United States of America, but in order for the Russians to actually put their money where their mouths are and invest in Croatia, there are preconditions that Croatia must meet,'' stated the Ambassador of the Russian Federation to Croatia, Anvar…