Business

''We need to give young people the ability to learn and improve, to be informed about the measures implemented by the EU through EU funds and self-employment,'' stated the mayor of Virovitica. As PD i VL native tim/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 4th of February, 2019, Virovitica is the fourteenth Croatian city in which the Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds organised an informative-educational event entitled Regional Days of EU Funds, with the aim of informing the general public about the possibilities of financing from EU funds and strengthening regional development, as well as the possibilities for overall social…

Two winters with a lot of snow and low temperatures, as well as a somewhat better economic situation in Croatia, were enough for lovers of skiing and other winter outdoor activities to start buying cheap real estate in Bosnia and Herzegovina once again, reports Poslovni.hr on February 5, 2019. Websites are full of ads offering cheap real estate in neighbouring Bosnia and Herzegovina again, especially apartments and holiday homes in the mountains. Everything changed two years ago when the local authorities started investing more and found private ski centre concessionaires. “As for the real estate prices, there is no rule.…

ZAGREB, February 4, 2019 - Croatia's public debt at the end of October 2018 was 280.3 billion kuna, which is 3.1 billion or 1.1 percent less than at the same time in the previous year, and could stay below 75 percent at the end of 2018, Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in an analysis of central bank data on Monday. Compared with September 2018, public debt shrank by 1.5 billion kuna or 0.5 percent, figures from the Croatian National Bank (HNB) showed. The annual decrease was due to a fall in both the external and the internal component of public debt.…

ZAGREB, Feb 4 (Hina) - A total of 499 counterfeit kuna banknotes were detected in Croatia in 2018, which was 97.2% or 246 banknotes more than in 2017, while the number of euro counterfeits increased by 89.5% to 1,488, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) stated on Monday. A total of 236 counterfeit kuna banknotes were withdrawn from circulation from July to December 2018, and given the average of 258 million kuna banknotes in circulation in the second half of 2018, 0.91 counterfeit kuna banknotes were detected per one million genuine banknotes in circulation in the said period. In the second…

As we reported recently, the enfeebled Croatian flag carrier, Croatia Airlines, will undergo privatisation, with the Minister of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Infrastructure, Oleg Butković, having confirmed that the process is ongoing. As Suzana Varosanec/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 3rd of February, 2019, fairly soon, the Croatian Government will decide on the appointment of a required commission to deal with the finding of a strategic partner for the burdened domestic airline. In response to Poslovni Dnevnik's question on the matter, the response from the competent ministry was that Croatia Airlines has a tender which is currently in its final phase dedicated…

Italy has sunk into a recession, which has been confirmed by the latest statistics on the economic trends of Croatia’s largest export partner. In the last three months of 2018, the economy sank 0.2 percent, while the quarter earlier it dropped 0.1 percent over the same period of 2017. Although it might seem to be a mild recession, the Italian government expects the deepening of the crisis later this year. The recession in Italy will negatively affect Croatian exports and is undoubtedly a source of risk for Croatian economy that should not be ignored, reports Večernji List on February 3,…

ZAGREB, February 3, 2019 - Slovenia's government does not plan to get back Mercator, however, it wants to take this retail company from the embrace of the Zagreb-headquartered Agrokor concern, and Slovenian Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek told the local media on Saturday that the Croatian conglomerate proved to be a poor manager. "We want to make sure that Mercator will have a more stable business future and create conditions for finding a new owner who will overhaul the company. However, the Slovenian government is not going to buy it back, contrary to some speculations which have recently appeared," the minister…

Good news for retail therapy lovers and job seekers alike as both Zagreb and the Istrian city of Poreč are due to get new big shopping centres and a wave of new employment opportunities that go with it. As Korana Sutlic/Barbara Ban/Novac writes on the 2nd of February, 2019, the current plan for Poreč's up and coming brand new outlet is to have it completed entirely by this summer, it will be located at the entrance to the popular Istrian city. It will be the first such shopping centre in the second largest city in Istria to accommodate shops such…

ZAGREB, February 2, 2019 - Mandatory pension funds in Croatia have been diversifying their investments, which means that they are turning away from investments in state bonds and turning to other investments, including investments on the Slovenian capital market, the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA) said in a press release on Friday. There are four mandatory pension funds in Croatia – AZ OMF, Raiffeisen OMF, PBZ/CO and Erste Plavi – and their assets are valued at 99.7 billion kuna, HANFA CEO Ante Žigman said, adding that the amount would exceed 100 billion kuna after February wages were paid. Pension…

ZAGREB, February 1, 2019 - The U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, W. Robert Kohorst, on Friday congratulated the Croatian government, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Energy Minister Tomislav Ćorić on the decision to finance the construction of the future LNG terminal on the Adriatic island of Krk. "Congratulations to the Croatian government – particularly Prime Minister Plenković and Minister Ćorić – for approving funding for the Krk LNG terminal," reads the ambassador's statement. "This project is an investment which maximizes Croatia’s gas supply options and makes a major contribution to regional gas supply diversification and security. The terminal will make LNG…