Business

ZAGREB, October 16, 2019 - Labour Ministry state secretary Majda Burić informed the parliamentary Labour, Pension System and Social Partnership Committee on Wednesday that the government was withdrawing from procedure amendments to the Labour Act the committee was to have discussed today. She did not say why the government was doing so. Committee chair Gordan Maras of the opposition Social Democratic Party said "it's unusual" to do so just before the start of the committee meeting, while Ante Babić of the ruling HDZ said "the circumstances are such, the government is talking with the social partners." An external committee member…

The successful Croatian rent-a-car company Carwiz has now signed new franchise partnerships expanding its operations in Ireland, Malta, Iceland and Poland. As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 16th of October, 2019, in just one month, the Croatian Carwiz rent-a-car company completed negotiations and positioned four new franchise forms of business on the world map. The newly launched franchise form in Iceland and a signed partnership with one of Iceland's oldest and most promising companies, Icerental 4x4, led by Magnús Arnar Kjartansson, soon joined the partnership with Fugazi Car Rentals Limited, a company that is part of the international Famalco Group…

The single largest current investment by HEP, Croatian national electricity provider, is the construction of the Korlat wind farm near Benkovac in Zadar county.  The planned connection capacity of the wind farm will amount to 58 MW (18 turbines of 3.6 MW each), which will make it the biggest wind farm in Croatia, once it's finished. It is also expected that the annual farm will generate around 170 GWh, which makes up around one percent of the total yearly electricity consumption in Croatia and is enough to supply more than 50,000 households with electricity. HEP reported that the total value…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has revised upward the projection of Croatia's real Gross Domestic Product for this and next year, saying that Croatia's GDP growth in 2019 is likely to be twice as strong as the growth of a group of countries which the Washington-based fund calls "Emerging and Developing Europe". Croatia's economic growth is projected to revive to 3% in 2019, according to the IMF Winter Economic Outlook (WEO), which is 0.4 percentage points higher than the Fund's estimate released in April. In 2020, Croatia's economy is expected to grow by 2.7%, which…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - There will be sufficient gas supplies for the coming heating season and the gas price will not change this season whereas in the near future it could fall markedly, it was said on Tuesday during a conference organised by the Croatian Gas Association (HSUP). During HSUP's annual general assembly the association's president Dalibor Pudić said that there would be enough gas and end-users can expect secure supplies. "We have never had a shortage of gas and it will be the same again this season. Suppliers' storage capacities are full. It is warm now, however, we…

ZAGREB, October 15, 2019 - The visa regime and double taxation make it difficult for Croatian companies to start a business in the United States, and they also hamper US investment in Croatia, so it would be good to resolve these issues as soon as possible, a seminar entitled "America Made Easy" was told on Tuesday. The seminar was organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK), the American Chamber of Commerce in Croatia and the Avitus Group. HGK vice-president Ivan Barbarić said that the visa regime and double taxation were the two biggest obstacles for Croatian businesses in the…

Early next year, the successful Croatian startup, Bellabeat, plans to launch a new product. As Bernard Ivezic/Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 15th of October, 2019, as of early next year, Bellabeat, the first Croatian startup reach a record a 4.5 million US dollar investment from Silicon Valley investors and the first to hit a record 6.5 million US dollar sales contract, will launch a new generation of its product with which it has embarked on global expansion. What the product itself is, is smart jewellery which, through a mobile app and modern technology, would create the world's largest women's wellness…

ZAGREB, October 14, 2019 - Croatia recorded the sharpest monthly decline in industrial production in August, while the European Union observed a slight recovery, the EU statistical office Eurostat said on Monday. In August 2019 compared with July 2019, seasonally adjusted industrial production rose by 0.1% in the EU28 and by 0.4% in the euro area. In July 2019, industrial production fell by 0.1% in the EU28 and by 0.4% in the euro area. The highest monthly increases in industrial production were registered in Malta (+5.6%), Estonia (+3.9%) and Latvia (+3.0%), while the largest decreases were observed in Croatia (-3.0%),…

October 14, 2019 - The 3rd Adriatic Health, Sport & Tourism Forum gets underway in Zagreb next week with a rich field of international speakers, including Lutz Lungwitz, President of the German Medical Wellness Association. TCN caught up with Lungwitz ahead of the conference.  The story of the excellence of Croatian medical tourism is slowly making its way into international channels. One key channel to connect the international medical tourism community to the opportunities within Croatia is the Adriatic Health, Sport & Tourism Forum, which will meet for the third year at the Westin in Zagreb on October 21-22, an…

As Novac/Kristina Turcin writes on the 13th of October, 2019, only 13 percent of Croatian employers, or one in eight of them, fulfilled their legal obligation last year and employed a number of people with disabilities, according to the annual report on the work of the Institute for Expertise, Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment of Persons with Disabilities for 2018. According to the law on the matter, an employer who is subject to what is known as quota employment of persons with disabilities with twenty or more employees is obliged to employee one person with a proven disability of some sort.…