ZAGREB, November 10, 2018 - The MOST opposition party accused the Andrej Plenković cabinet on Saturday of squandering taxpayers' money as budget expenditures grew faster than the economy.
Nearly all macroeconomists say that, due to the high public debt, the budget's expenditures side must be put under control, the party said in a press release, adding that it was unacceptable that expenditures were rising 5.2% without any strategy and that GDP growth was projected at only 2.8%.
It is absurd that the population is drastically decreasing yet the budget is increasing uncontrollably, MOST said, adding that when it had been part of government, it started a trend of rational budget management, yet now the ruling HDZ and its new coalition partners were squandering money again. "Mr Plenković, you are pumping the budget without any strategic goal, which will hit us in the head like a boomerang."
MOST said Croatia's GDP growth lagged behind comparable countries, pushing it to the very bottom of the European Union. In September, industrial production fell 1.5% on the month and decreased over nine months this year, it added.
Salary growth in 2019 will total only 1.1 billion kuna at a time when 180 people are leaving Croatia on a daily basis, which is a glaring example of irresponsibility towards taxpayers' money, said MOST, wondering who would generate that amount and make up for the huge difference between revenues and expenditures.
In the best case scenario, tourism results for this year will be stable and nights in the peak seasons will drop 3% on the year, MOST said.
Enterprise will hardly pull us through with the structural workforce deficit, to which the government is not offering any solutions, and a new entrepreneur must pay 22,824 kuna in annual contributions even before opening a business, the party said.
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