ZAGREB, December 10, 2018 - Twenty percent of the population in Croatia is at risk of poverty, of which 28% is senior population, public ombudswoman Laura Vidović said on Monday on the occasion of International Human Rights Day.

Poverty is a great enemy of human rights and it is a partner to discrimination because it means life in social isolation and it can have numerous consequences to health, education or access to the labour market, Vidović said, adding that it could lead to homelessness.

The economy is growing but the risk of poverty indicators are growing too, the ombudswoman said, adding that citizens often are not acquainted with their rights and they don't know who to turn to. Even when they know who to turn to, they rarely opt for that as they neither have the will nor the strength to do that, the Ombudswoman said.

More than seven percent of the population cannot afford adequate heating in the coldest months of the year, Vidović said. Her proposal to reduce VAT on heating wood, heat energy and gas has been rejected with the explanation that this would create additional negative influence on budget revenues.

Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honour the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the first global enunciation of human rights and one of the first major achievements of the new United Nations.

More news on the Croatian economy can be found in our Business section.

ZAGREB, December 10, 2018 - Labour and Pension System Minister Marko Pavić said on Monday that the government had made a significant step by increasing the minimum wage, bringing it to 3,000 kuna as take-home pay and that the extra money people on a minimum wage will earn will be additional funds for a decent life. The opposition however, retorted that surviving on 3,000 kuna was a "mission impossible," with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and Let's Change Croatia party recommending that the net minimum wage be 4,000 kuna.

"The government has decided that the minimum wage in 2019 be increased to 3,000 kuna as the net amount or 3,750 kuna as the gross amount. That increase of 248 kuna is the biggest increase since the institute of the minimum wage was introduced in 2008. Before that, during the term of this government, the minimum wage was increased twice by 5% each time and with the latest amendments to the Law on the Minimum Wage, where we excluded Saturday, Sunday, public holiday and overtime work, there was an additional increase of 3.3%," Minister Pavić said presenting a bill on the minimum wage.

During the incumbent government's term, the minimum wage increased by 504 kuna or 23.9%.

"The minimum wage as of 1 January 2019 will be higher than in nine other EU countries, it already is higher than in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia and Hungary and as of 1 January we will have a higher minimum wage than in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Estonia," Pavić underscored.

The government has sent an important message with the proposed increase and that is that it wants a decent life for its citizens, 37,000 of whom receive the minimum salary. "However, this increase won't be without compensating measures to retain employment in labour intensive industries, primarily the leather, textile, timber and metal industries," he underlined.

Last year already the law defined reliefs on contributions of 50%, which will remain in force next year too.

As of 1 January, subsidies will be available for employers who retain their workers and new measures will be introduced in 2020 for employers who create new jobs, Pavić added.

A minimum wage of 3,000 kuna for a decent life. That's a 'mission impossible'. Slovenia's minimum salary is double that of Croatia's, Ivan Lovrinović (Let's Change Croatia) said. He recalled that his party recommended that the minimum wage be 4,000 kuna as the net amount.

Pavić however said that the government was trying to balance its policy, being aware of the fact that that amount isn't a lot.

Independent MP Vlaho Orepić, objected to the fact that the bill had been put on fast track to which Pavić answered that people on the minimum salary didn't have time to wait.

MP Gordan Maras (SDP) said that any change for the better is good however, SDP too recommends that the minimum salary be 4,000 kuna.

MP Branimir Bunjac (Živi Zid) suggested that Pavić write a book about how to have a decent life earning 3,000 kuna. The book could have several chapters - how to survive with 3,000 kuna if you are single, if you have a family, if you have a loan, if your bank account is blocked, he said.

More news on the minimum wage in Croatia can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 8, 2018 - Fitch Ratings has affirmed Croatia's long-term foreign-currency Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'BB+' and maintained the country's outlook positive, saying that Croatia's credit rating is balanced by strong structural features, including human development and governance indicators and high GDP per capita, with weak growth potential, high public sector debt and external vulnerabilities.

The positive outlook reflects Fitch's expectation that the combination of persistent primary budget surpluses, low interest and healthy GDP growth will contribute to a continued marked reduction in gross general government debt.

In addition, Fitch expects Croatia to outperform its budget target for the third consecutive year in 2018, with a deficit forecast of 0.2% of GDP, compared with the government's deficit target of 0.5%. "Croatia's fiscal performance continues to benefit from strong revenue growth and expenditure restraint," Fitch said.

"This outperformance is despite the materialisation of contingent liabilities stemming from troubled shipyard company Uljanik, which we expect to amount to approximately 0.6% of GDP for this year," the rating agency said.

Fitch also forecasts the general government budget will remain broadly balanced in 2019-20, against the small deficits projected by the authorities. "Positive fiscal dynamics are underpinned by favourable nominal growth, the government's commitment to meeting its expenditure rules as well as the incentive of joining the eurozone," Fitch said.

The agency also forecasts general government debt/GDP to fall to 74.1% of GDP at end-2018, down from 84% at end-2014, and to 68.3% by 2020 and 61.9% by 2023 on the back of primary surpluses. "This would still be well above the historical 'BB' median of 38.3% of GDP," Fitch said.

External deleveraging continues at a rapid pace, supported by surpluses in the balance of payments.

Fitch forecasts the current account to post an average surplus of 2.3% of GDP in 2018-20, as services exports led by tourism and current transfers remain robust, offsetting a slowdown in tradable exports. This will support a build-up of foreign reserves and further strengthen the sovereign's net external creditor position, helping to limit external vulnerabilities.

The economy is set to maintain a moderate rate of expansion, averaging 2.5% in 2018-20, supported by private consumption growth and price/exchange rate stability.

The report also notes that medium-term economic prospects are limited by adverse demographic trends and structural weaknesses, with potential growth estimated at around 2%.

The main downside risks include a sharper-than-expected slowdown in GDP growth in key European markets and/or a slowdown in tourist inflows given the importance of the sector for growth, employment and external finances.

The banking sector remains stable with ample liquidity and capital levels well above the regulatory minimum (22.6% 3Q18). "Unlike the Agrokor fallout in 2017, banks have felt no impact from the troubles at Uljanik," Fitch said in its report, adding that profitability is set to increase only modestly, as aggregate credit demand remains muted.

The report also says that Croatia's structural features are much stronger than 'BB' peers. "GDP per capita is 60% above the 'BB' median and the country scores better than 'BB' and 'BBB' peers in terms of governance indicators and human development, thanks in part to EU membership. The coalition government, installed in June 2017, has been able to implement its agenda relatively smoothly despite its small majority," Fitch said in the report.

For more on Croatia’s credit rating, click here.

ZAGREB, December 6, 2018 - Croatia must join more actively in global value chains as soon as possible because it has high quality companies whose access to foreign markets should be facilitated, it was said on Thursday at the conference "The role of global value chains - an opportunity for export and investment?", organised by the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).

The head of the HGK department for attracting investments, Svjetlana Momčilović, presented the results of a survey on the expectations of 400 Croatian companies from the next six-month period.

"The overall result as regards business expectations for this year and the next six months is optimism, notably among exporters. Exporters also expect an increase in investments, in the number of employees and in revenues, while the percentage of businesses that expect a deterioration of the business environment is much lower," said Momčilović.

The survey shows that 40% of those polled expect higher revenues in the next six months, and almost a half of them will have new investments in that period. Also, 17% of companies that do not export their products will increase the number of workers, as will 31% of export-oriented companies. Both exporters and non-exporters fear labour shortages in the next six months, with 39% of exporters and 29% of non-exporters citing that as a problem.

Momčilović said that the main obstacles to doing business are frequent legislative changes, notably changes of tax-related laws, inefficient public administration, excessive taxes, etc.

"Integration with global value chains is inevitable. Croatia must hurry up in that process, we have high quality innovative companies that just need help in accessing new foreign markets," Momčilović said, noting that companies specialising in nutritionism, IT, bio-medicine, energy and food production should be given incentives.

For more on the Croatian economy and its role in the global business, click here.

ZAGREB, December 3, 2018 – Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović warned on Monday that despite reforms, Croatia was the least competitive of all countries of the so-called New Europe, and called for amalgamating economic and demographic policies to curb emigration.

Speaking at an event at which awards were presented to the best business people and business events of 2018, the president said that there was no doubt that the numerous positive economic indicators, recorded this years and in previous years, were owing to economic policies that had successfully launched positive trends, visible in public finance sustainability, macroeconomic and fiscal stability and the growth of export, consumption and employment.

"Given the estimates that 2019 will also be a year of growth, we have reason to be moderately optimistic," she said, but warned that there was no room for complacency because "not all citizens have felt the economic growth nor have we successfully responded to the challenges that lie ahead."

She said the first challenge was insufficient intensity of work on reforms designed to step up productivity growth and create a favourable business environment. "Even though work on reforms has been ongoing, we are still lagging behind comparable peers in the EU and in Central and Eastern Europe," she said, noting that the World Bank and the World Economic Forum "consider Croatia the least competitive country, with worst business conditions in the so-called New Europe club," said Grabar-Kitarović.

She called for stepping up reforms that can secure long-term, higher rates of growth and the growth of living standards. "We all want a growth rate of more than 2.8%," she said.

Grabar-Kitarović said the second challenge was the unfavourable structure of the national economy, relying mostly on tourism, and added that the third challenge was the lack of a clear vision and strategy of economic development.

She reiterated that Croatia had to start developing those economic sectors in which it had a comparative advantage and decide where it wanted to be in 5, 10 or 20 years.

She identified as the fourth challenge external negative risks, such as an increasingly insecure environment caused by tensions in international trade, oil price oscillations, possible interest growth, uncertainties related to Brexit, migrations, etc.

The president particularly underlined the challenge of a growing labour shortage caused by increased emigration and depopulation.

If the current disastrous demographic trends are not reversed, by 2051 Croatia will lose more than 1.1 million inhabitants in relation to the 2011 census. The working contingent will shrink to 1.8 million, the number of young people under the age of 14 will drop by 49.1%, the number of working-age people will shrink by 36.5% while the number of elderly people will grow by 24.4%, Grabar-Kitarović said, calling for focusing on the implementation of population-boosting measures.

She noted that depopulation trends were economically motivated to a significant extent and called for amalgamating economic and demographic policies to stop emigration and reverse the extremely unfavourable internal migration trends.

Addressing the event, Economy Minister Darko Horvat said that investments, innovations and digitisation were crucial for enabling economic growth.

Investments this year are expected to amount to two billion euro, which will make 2018 the most successful year in terms of investment in Croatia's history, the minister said.

Investments mean investing into economic security, Horvat said, adding that 2019 should be a year of digital transformation.

At the ceremony, awards were presented to the companies Geni-i, Solvis, Agrimatco and Zagreb's international airport.

For more on the Croatian economy, click here.

ZAGREB, December 3, 2018 - The Croatian Parliament on Monday adopted the 2019 budget and projections for 2020 and 2021, with revenues in 2019 totalling over 136 billion kuna and expenditures over 140 billion kuna.

The budget was adopted with 79 votes in favour, 45 against and one abstention.

Budgetary revenues are based on the economic growth and the third round of tax reliefs, while the expenditure side of the budget is focused on the strengthening of fiscal sustainability, development measures and appropriate care for everybody in society.

VAT revenues are expected to reach 51.8 billion kuna and 15.7 billion kuna is to be collected from taxes and excise taxes. Expenditures are planned at 140.3 billion kuna, 6.9 billion kuna more than in this year's budget.

The parliament adopted two amendments submitted by the government which do not change the overall amount of the budget with the current amounts being redistributed.

The first government-sponsored amendment refers to the development of assisted areas, namely parts of Croatian territory that are underdeveloped in comparison to the Croatian average and therefore need additional development support.

The second government-sponsored amendment proposes a redistribution of 4.1 million kuna to the Education Ministry for the purpose of securing funds for the Hrvatsko Zagorje-Krapina Polytechnic.

The parliament also adopted a revised budget for this year. Seventy-eight MPs voted in favour of the revised budget, one abstained while 45 were against.

Under the proposal for budget revision, budget revenues will increase by 144 million kuna from the original amount, to 129.2 billion kuna.

The most important change in the revised budget is the issue of enforced guarantees given to the Uljanik shipbuilding group, and a minimum 2.5 billion kuna of government guarantees is expected to be paid by the end of the year.

Budget revenues in the budget revision proposal are expected to increase by 2.1 billion kuna or 2.7% from the originally planned amount. VAT revenues are planned at 51.1 billion kuna, 3.1% more than originally planned, owing to positive economic trends and an increase in disposable income.

The profit tax revenue is expected to go up by 1.3% to 8.4 billion kuna, revenues from contributions is expected to go up by 2.6% to 24.9 billion kuna, while revenues from administrative fees are to go up by 18.2% to 4.4 billion kuna.

Budget spending will amount to 131.7 billion kuna, a decrease of 1.6 billion kuna from the current plan.

Guarantee reserves will be increased by 2.6 billion kuna from the originally planned 265 million kuna to 2.865 billion kuna due to the anticipated enforcement of government guarantees given to the Uljanik group.

Only two amendments were submitted to the budget revision proposal, both by the Živi Zid party, and they were both rejected.

For more on Croatia’s budget, click here.

ZAGREB, November 30, 2018 - At the government session on Friday, Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced an increase in the net minimum wage from 2,752 kuna to 3,000 kuna, an increase of 248 kuna or 9% compared to 2018, underscoring that this is the largest one-off increase in the minimum wage since 2008.

"We will endorse a decision that will increase the minimum wage which currently amounts to 2,752 kuna net, to 3,000 kuna net. This is an increase of 248 kuna or nine percent compared to 2018. The gross amount that today totals 3,440 kuna will be 3,750 kuna, an increase of 310 kuna," Plenković said.

This is the highest one-off increase of the minimum wage since 2008, the prime minister underscored.

Expressed in the euro, following the increase the minimum wage will amount to 404 euro net or 505 gross.

Compared to other countries in central and eastern Europe, Plenković noted that according to Eurostat figures from July, Croatia's minimum gross wage amounted to 464 euro and was even then higher than in Bulgaria (261 euro), Lithuania (400 euro), Romania (407 euro), Latvia (430 euro) and Hungary (445 euro).

After this increase, the minimum wage in Croatia will as of the New Year be higher than in the Czech Republic (469 euro), Slovakia and Poland (480 euro) and Estonia (500 euro).

Plenković noted that according to the Labour and Pension System Ministry's data, about 37,000 people are currently earning a minimum wage.

He recalled that in the first two years of this government's term, the minimum wage was increased twice by five percent, which cumulatively amounts to 10.25%, with an additional 3.3% increase after excluding overtime, Sunday and public holiday hours.

"Prior to that, it was increased during our term by 13.6% compared to 2016. That was the biggest increase until now and with this increase that will mean a total net increase of the net minimum wage during our term of 504 kuna and that is 23.9%," the prime minister underscored.

He noted that the share of the gross minimum wage in the average wage will increase significantly in 2019 to 44.85%.

Plenković underscored that this measure takes employers into account. Certain compensatory measures are foreseen because the government doesn't want the challenge of increasing labour costs to lead to negative consequences for workers or their employers.

"The minimum wage is usually paid in the textile, timber, leather and metal industries and as such in 2019 we will retain the reduced base wage to calculate contributions by 50% for those workers who were paid a minimum wage in 2018, and in 2020, those reliefs will be reduced by one half," he underscored.

In addition to fiscal breaks, the government has prepared a set of measures to preserve jobs and that means that next year we will enable the use of up to 1.5 million kuna in support and in 2020 that support will be even greater in an effort to save jobs and open new ones.

Plenković recalled that the 2.8% increase in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) meant that it had grown for the 17th consecutive quarter and that the growth was based on sound foundations, on growing exports and investments.

"We think that the GDP growth, which has continued for 17 quarters in a row is a good signal. Figures that relate to the export of goods and services are also good – with exports increasing by 5.2% and services by 2.5% while investments have grown for the 15th consecutive quarter," he said.

With regard to industrial production falling after a long period, Plenković said that the government has been thinking about consolidating production and exports.

For more on the minimum wage in Croatia, click here.

ZAGREB, November 28, 2018 - The head of the national statistical office (DZS), Marko Krištof, said on Wednesday the good tourist season, also owing to the FIFA World Cup, resulted in higher-than-expected economic growth rates. The DZS today released an initial estimate of GDP showing that the Croatian GDP grew by 2.8% in Q3 2018, compared to Q3 2017. The rate was lower than in Q2 but higher than anticipated. This was the 17th quarter in a row that GDP grew, albeit at a slower rate than in Q2, when it grew by 2.9% year on year. Eight analysts polled by Hina predicted the growth would be 2.3%, their forecasts ranging from 2.2 to 2.5%.

"The expectations were that the growth would not be as high as in the previous period, but the good tourist season, probably also owing to the football world cup, increased the growth rates," Krištof said at a press conference.

Broken down by component, the biggest contribution to GDP in Q3 came from higher exports of goods and services. Krištof said this was in line with forecasts as tourism's share was the strongest in Q3.

The contribution of domestic demand was also positive and, of its components, household spending, which grew 2.7% on the year, had the strongest impact on economic trends.

Gross added value in Q3 went up 2.2% year on year in real terms and the biggest contribution came from retail and wholesale, which grew for the 49th month in a row.

The biggest contribution to the volume decrease was recorded in manufacturing, first and foremost due to a production volume decrease in shipbuilding.

Marked growth, of 7.1%, was recorded in construction. All sectors except industry, mining and extraction recorded positive growth rates.

According to seasonally adjusted data, Croatia grew faster than the European Union average for the third quarter in a row. Excluding the one quarter in which growth was somewhat slower, Croatia would have had a faster yearly growth for 13 quarters in a row, said Krištof. The EU growth average is 1.9%.

Croatia recorded a twice as fast growth also quarterly, 0.6% as against 0.3%, which again was the third straight quarter in which Croatia grew faster than the EU average.

Commenting on the latest statistics, Economy Minister Darko Horvat said on Wednesday that reducing the tax burden on the business sector was slowly yielding results.

"The processes regarding the implementation of the action plan to reduce the tax burden on the business sector are slowly yielding results," Horvat told reporters outside the government headquarters. "These processes will continue for a long time," he said, adding that similar action plans were being prepared.

He went on to say that an action plan to be presented to the government in about ten days would propose the cancellation or simplification of 322 procedures, including the cancellation or reduction of some of the non-tax levies.

Horvat said that he was confident growth projections in the first two quarters of next year, when the planned measures are to be implemented, would continue to be good.

For more on the Croatian economy, click here.

ZAGREB, November 21, 2018 - Next year the European Commission will continue analysing macroeconomic risks in Croatia and overseeing its progress in reducing excessive macroeconomic imbalances, the European Union's executive said in a report on Wednesday.

The Commission released the 2019 Annual Growth Survey, the 2019 Alert Mechanism Report and the 2019 Joint Employment Report, marking the beginning of the 2019 European Semester cycle of economic and social policy coordination.

The Alert Mechanism Report says that 13 member states will be covered by an in-depth review in 2019 to assess whether they are experiencing macroeconomic imbalances. Those countries are: Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Spain, and Sweden.

The results of the in-depth reviews will be presented as part of the country reports to be published in February or March 2019. Based on an assessment of whether the government's reform programme is ambitious enough to correct imbalances, the Commission will decide whether or not it will be necessary to trigger a corrective mechanism to address the macroeconomic imbalances.

"In March 2018, the Commission concluded that Croatia was experiencing excessive macroeconomic imbalances, linked to high levels of public, private and external debt, all largely denominated in foreign currency, in a context of low potential growth. In the updated scoreboard, a number of indicators are beyond the indicative threshold, namely the net international investment position (NIIP), the government debt and the unemployment rate," the Commission said.

If these positive trends continue, the Croatian economy may still experience macroeconomic imbalances next year, but they will no longer be excessive as in the previous five years.

Among the positive trends, the Commission cited the reduction of public debt and improvement of the net international investment position, which was negative - 90 percent of GDP in 2010 and 59.8 percent in the second quarter of 2018. The negative NIIP largely reflected foreign direct investment.

Unit labour costs were reduced, which contributed to competitiveness, and as a result Croatia gained market shares, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years. Private sector debt continued decreasing despite a recovery of credit flows in 2017. The reduction of non-performing loans in the banking sector slowed, and a large share of loans to non-financial corporations remains nonperforming, the report says.

"The government debt ratio declined further in 2017 also on account of an improving general government balance. The unemployment rate continued to decrease. However, labour market participation remains very low and, combined with sluggish productivity developments, it continues to weigh on potential growth. Risks associated with the country's largest employer, Agrokor, diminished after its creditors adopted a debt restructuring plan.

"Overall, the economic reading highlights the still high but decreasing debt levels and currency risk exposures in all sectors of the economy and the importance of higher potential growth for a durable correction. Therefore the Commission finds it useful, also taking into account the identification of an excessive imbalance in March 2018, to examine further the persistence of macroeconomic risks and to monitor progress in the unwinding of excessive imbalances," the Commission said, speaking about macroeconomic risks in Croatia.

According to data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, Croatia's public debt to GDP ratio was 76.1 percent at the end of the second quarter of 2018, its lowest level since 2012 when it stood at 69.4 percent of GDP. The unemployment rate in September 2018 was 8.2 percent.

For more on Croatia’s relations with the EU, click here.

ZAGREB, November 20, 2018 - The opposition in the parliament criticised a government proposal for the 2018 budget revision on Monday, saying that the state continued to spend more than it earned and criticising the government over poor absorption of money from EU funds. "When all is added and subtracted, we spend more than we earn, that's it," MOST leader Božo Petrov said on government spending.

"If you think that that's sustainable, I call on citizens to start spending more than they earn and let them see for themselves how that ends," Petrov told the ruling majority.

He said that Finance Minister Zdravko Marić was like "an octopus trying to plug the holes that are opening up on the ship", "while smiling to the cameras for PR purposes."

Petrov said the government lacked a strategy for the management of public finances, that the budget revision did not create conditions for reforms, and that 2.7 billion kuna less than planned had been withdrawn from EU funds.

Social Democrat MP Branko Grčić warned of the same problem, saying that the situation had been similar in 2017. He said that in the past five years of its EU membership Croatia had used up only 14% of EU money available to it and that in the next five years it was expected to absorb and pay out 86% of the total funds at its disposal.

Grčić also warned that tax revenues were growing, meaning the growth of the absolute tax burden on households and the business sector, and that the latest round of tax breaks was insufficient.

Branimir Bunjac of the Živi Zid party claimed the public debt-to-GDP ratio had not declined but had actually increased because the state had paid debts in the amount of 21 billion kuna, and taken loans in the amount of 24 billion kuna. "This is a policy of taking loans to pay loans," he said.

Commenting on the government's guarantees for the Uljanik shipbuilding group, in the amount of 4.3 billion kuna, Bunjac said that the government had granted guarantees indiscriminately and that taxpayers would end up paying for everything.

Anka Mrak Taritaš of the GLAS party said that there was nothing dramatic in the budget revision "or any hope of more radical changes in the future".

Boris Milošević of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) said that the problem with planning EU funds was not a new one and that it had persisted for years, calling on the Finance Ministry to help other ministries plan their budgets better.

Ivan Lovrinović of the Promijenimo Hrvatsku (Let's Change Croatia) party said that the budget was unrealistic. "With the economic policy which Croatia has been pursuing for years we cannot achieve a GDP growth rate of more than 3% no matter what we do, and the economy must grow by 3% so that we can just pay interest on state debt," said Lovrinović.

Ruling HDZ party whip Branko Bačić said that 2018 had been a challenging year and recalled the agreement on the settlement of the Agrokor conglomerate's debt, the problem of the Uljanik and 3. Maj shipyards, and the restructuring of the Petrokemija artificial fertiliser company, and commended the management of public finances in those circumstances.

"If we were not faced with the enforcement of guarantees in the amount of 2.6 billion kuna for Uljanik, the budget revision would technically result in a greater surplus than last year," said Bačić, commending a decrease in spending on interest of 100 million euro.

Ivan Šuker of the HDZ said that the reforms launched had yielded results on the revenue side of the budget while the expenditure side was affected by long-standing structural problems, the health system and the enforcement of government guarantees for ailing shipyards.

For more on Croatia’s budget, click here.