Business

ZAGREB, 1 June 2022 - The European Commission on Wednesday concluded that Croatia was ready to adopt the euro on 1 January 2023, bringing the number of euro area Member States to twenty. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, who congratulated Croatia, was quoted as saying: "Today, Croatia has made a significant step towards adopting the euro, our common currency." "Less than a decade after joining the EU, Croatia is now ready to join the euro area on 1 January. This will make Croatia's economy stronger, bringing benefits to its citizens, businesses and society at large. Croatia's adoption of…

June 1, 2022 - Rimac Group received an investment of half a billion euros from SoftBank Vision Fund 2 and Goldman Sachs, which raised the value of the company to more than two billion euros. According to Mate Rimac, they will employ 700 people by the end of the year. Rimac Group announced that EUR 500 million of investments were collected in investment round D, which exceeded the total market value of the company by 2 billion euros, reports Telegram.hr. Those 500 million euros is the largest investment so far, and a larger sum than all the investments the company has attracted. The…

June the 1st, 2022 - The biggest investments this year will be in Dalmatian hotel capacities, marking a clear shift to the south, as in previous years this trend was dominated more or less entirely by Istria and Kvarner. As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Crnjak writes, unlike in previous years, when Istria and Kvarner would dominate the scene with hotel openings and investments, with the entry into the 2022 summer tourist season, the trend has moved south, and some of these projects will have a significant impact on the overall development of Dalmatia's many destinations this summer. Makarska, a Central Dalmatian city…

ZAGREB, 30 May 2022 - Croatia's commodity export in 2021 totalled HRK 144.3 billion, up by HRK 32 billion or 29% on the year, while import was valued at HRK 214 billion, up by 42 billion of 24%, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) reported on Monday. The foreign trade deficit was around HRK 70 billion, increasing by about HRK 9 billion (+16%) from 2020. The export-import ratio was 67.5% in 2021, whereas in 2020 it was 65%. With a share of 81% in the total export in 2021, the manufacturing industry generated an increase in exports of about 21%, to HRK 116.3 billion…

May the 29th, 2022 - There will be more Lika-Senj County capital investments on the cards, according to the director of the the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development's Financial Association for the Republic of Croatia (EBRD), who recently paid a visit to Gospic. As Novi list/Marin Smolcic writes, the director of the EBRD's Financial Association for Croatia, Victoria Zinchuk, spent the day in Lika-Senj County recently and visited Gospic. The visit and meetings were very fruitful, with more Lika-Senj County capital investments on the horizon. A working meeting of Lika-Senj County prefect, Ernest Petry, with Director Zinchuk was held in…

May the 28th, 2022 - Hrvatska postanska banka has celebrated thirty long and successful years of operations with the acquisition of a brand new bank, Nova hrvatska banka (New Croatian bank). As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the celebration of 30 years of Hrvatska postanka banka's operations comes after a record 2021 in which the bank achieved the best net profit in history in the amount of 202 million kuna, asset growth increased to a massive 27.9 billion kuna, and it enjoyed a capital adequacy ratio of 25.7 percent. “At Hrvatska postanska banka, we have many reasons to celebrate, in addition to achieving…

May the 28th, 2022 - HBOR is set to facilitate favourable lending to investments through new HBOR loans from the Croatian recovery and resilience funds (Croatian: NPOO). As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NPOO), HBOR has started implementing financial instruments that enable extremely favourable lending terms for investments of both private and public sector entities - with interest rates of 0.4 percent or interest rate subsidies of up to 75 percent. Direct loans with an interest rate of as little as 0.4 percent Direct loans from NPOO funds will be available to start-up…

May the 28th, 2022 - The residents of Komiza have finally been invited to the public presentation of the new and rather controversial Bisevo hotel, which has attracted reactions across the spectrum from locals. As Morski writes, a series of controversies has been connected with the project of building a new hotel in Komiza, which resulted a real wave of dissatisfaction among locals, but also from regular guests of this picturesque fishing village on the gorgeous island of Vis. What exactly is planned to be built, as well as all of the details, should finally be revealed at the public presentation…

ZAGREB, 25 May 2022 - A hailstorm hit the north of Croatia on Wednesday afternoon, causing extensive damage on facilities and agricultural land and destroying almost half of the country's flower production. The hailstorm hit the area along the border with Slovenia in Krapina-Zagorje County, a number of communities and towns in Varaždin County and a part of Međimurje County. Veliki Bukovec in Varaždin County and Hum na Sutli in Krapina-Zagorje County have suffered the most extensive damage. Varaždin County head Anđelko Stričak visited the area of Veliki Bukovec, where 40% of Croatia's flower production is located and where not a single greenhouse…

May the 26th, 2022 - Is the Croatian construction industry simply doomed to have to import foreign (non-EEA) labour as an attempted long-term strategy to keep things afloat? As Poslovni Dnevnik/Darko Bicak writes, there are fewer and fewer ''homegrown'' workers in the Croatian construction industry, and an increasing number of foreign workers on construction sites pose a number of challenges to the companies that hire them, according to the panel discussion "Challenges of the workforce" which was held in Zagreb recently. Dragutin Kamenski, the director of the very well known company Kamgrad, pointed out that if the country successfully removed…