ZAGREB, January 1, 2019 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković has released his New Year message wishing the Croatians in the country and abroad a happy and successful 2019, and recalling the measures his cabinet has taken in the outgoing year to raise the living standards.
In this context, he underscores a marked reduction of the tax burden which consequently has led to growing employment, higher salaries and better consumption, all of which has facilitated the economic growth.
In his New Year message, Prime Minister Plenković recalls that as of the start of the new year, Croatians will pay lower Value Added Tax on food and certain products, which will enable them to have a higher disposable income. "We wish for all Croatian people to live a decent life and therefore we advocate a higher social solidarity."
"We have increased the minimum wage to 3,000 kuna and pensions by 6 percent. A set of measures have helped over 50,000 citizens to have their bank accounts unblocked," he says.
Our future are our young people. Therefore, we are investing a lot in education and raising scholarships. The curricular reform is supposed to provide young people with high-quality education which will be conducive to their efforts to find jobs, he said.
Furthermore, the prime minister expresses his satisfaction with statistical figures indicating that negative birth growth has been halted. Thus in the first ten months of this year, 351 more babies were born than last year, according to Plenković's message.
We are expanding a set of measures aimed at the demographic revitalisation and at attracting Croatian expats to return to the homeland, he says.
Croatian prime minister also says that his cabinet is aware that the results in some fields have been better, whereas it is necessary to take additional efforts in some other fields. In this context, he points out the endeavours to achieve an even and balanced development in all corners of Croatia.
"In the year ahead of us, we are going to pay particular attention to strengthening citizens' confidence in the independence and efficiency of institutions. In that way, we will encourage a sense of justice and optimism in our society," the premier says.
Croatia will intensify its preparations for assuming the rotating presidency of the European Union in the first half of 2020 and for membership in the Schengen zone.
Let us together continue building a better and more prosperous Croatia. I wish you health and well-being, success and happiness in 2019, Plenković concludes in his message.
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