The respected British publication shines its spotlight on the Croatian Prime Minister and economic predictions for 2018.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 22nd of November, 2017, The Economist's estimate of Croatia's GDP growth is lower than most other estimates have been.
The highly respected and widely read British publication expects the Croatian economy to grow by 2.6 percent in 2018, which is slower than this year, and this estimate is lower those provided by numerous other expert analysts and institutions.
In a special edition entitled "The World in 2018", The Economist also estimates that inflation in Croatia could arrive to 1.8 percent next year, as well as a 1.6 percent GDP budget deficit.
"The coalition government led by the conservative HDZ is weak, and Prime Minister Andrej Plenković could convene earlier elections in order to make use of the strong rating of the party. If he doesn't do that, economic reforms will be slow. If he secures a firmer mandate, the government will try to limit the large public debt and boost domestic investment,'' analysts from The Economist estimate.
Among European countries, analysts predict the highest rates of growth to be forecast for central and eastern European countries, with Romania at 4.5%, Estonia at 3.5%, Hungary and Poland at 3.4%, Bulgaria at 3.3% and Slovenia at 3.1 percent.
For Croatia's largest trade partners - Germany and Italy - The Economist predicts GDP growth rates in 2018 of 1.8 percent and 1 percent respectively. As previously stated, The Economist's estimate of Croatia's GDP growth is lower than most other estimates.
The European Commission has announced in its recent forecasts that in 2018 it expects the Croatian economy to grow by 2.8 percent.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank are expecting growth of 2.7 percent.
Addico Bank is even more optimistic, after it recently announced that it expects GDP to grow by 3.0 percent next year.
Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) recently announced that due to the possible negative risks from the restructuring of Agrokor, Croatia's crucial yet ailing largest private company, the economy is expected to grow by 2.3 percent next year.
The government, on the other hand, has proposed a budget proposal for next year which estimates growth of 2.9 percent.
