ZAGREB, August 9, 2019 - The Financial Agency (FINA) has reported that at the end of this June, 256,322 citizens' accounts were blocked due to unpaid obligations, with the debt principal amounting to 16.6 billion kuna, and broken down by region the largest number of debtors with overdue liabilities was in Zagreb, 53,045 with the debt of 4.8 billion kuna.

Thus, at the end of June 2019, every one in ten Zagreb residents of working age (9.87%) had their accounts blocked.

Split, the second biggest Croatian city, had 9,414 citizens' accounts blocked due to overdue liabilities.

In Split-Dalmatia County, 23,149 citizens' accounts were blocked over unpaid obligations and their accurate debt totalled 1.4 billion kuna. Thus, 7.63% of residents of working age in that southern county had their accounts blocked.

FINA recalled that one of the measures in resolving the problem of citizens with blocked accounts was the adoption of a package of laws regarding write-offs, distraint procedures and personal bankruptcy, which entered into force in July and August 2018.

Thus in late September 2018, FINA reported that as of 31 August that year, 274,529 citizens' accounts were blocked due to unpaid obligations, with the debt principal amounting to 19.2 billion kuna as were 20,826 commercial accounts, with their debt principal amounting to 7.9 billion kuna. That August, the number of citizens with blocked accounts was down 43,992 or 13.8% on the month, while the value of the debt principal was HRK 24 billion less.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, August 8, 2019 - Beer producers in Croatia earned 2.47 billion kuna in revenue in 2018, with their consolidated profit totalling 344.9 million kuna, 26% up from 2017, the Financial Agency (FINA) has reported.

In a report based on annual financial reports and published on the occasion of International Beer Day, which this year is marked on August 5, FINA says that in 2018, 88 businesses were active in the industry, of whom 41 operated at a profit.

The beer industry employed 1,622 workers, 5.1% more than in 2017.

The average monthly net salary in the sector was 9,824 kuna, 3% more than in 2017, and it was 75.9% higher than the average monthly net salary in the business sector of 5,584 kuna.

Last year's exports of the beer industry totalled 312.6 million kuna, an increase of 6.3% from 2017, while imports rose 6.4% to 394.5 million kuna.

Among the 88 producers the highest total revenue, in the amount of 1.1 billion kuna, was earned by the Zagrebačka Pivovara brewery, which was also the biggest exporter.

In 2018 the company had 560 employees whose average net salary was 12,728 kuna.

The brewery earned a profit in the amount of 233.2 million kuna as against 213.8 million kuna in 2017.

Zagrebačka Pivovara is followed by Heineken Hrvatska, with revenues amounting to 723.4 million kuna. Its profit totalled 105.9 million kuna, it employed 321 workers and their average net monthly salary was 13,310 kuna.

FINA also notes that in recent years Croatia has been experiencing a growing trend of craft beer making.

More news about the beer industry can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - The number of tourists visiting Croatia in July fell by 0.7% as against July 2018, however, the number of visitors in the first seven months increased by 3.7% compared to the corresponding period in 2018, according to figures collected by the e-visitor system.

In July, a total of 4.7 million arrivals were registered. Of them 4.24 million were foreigners, down by 1.3% as against July 2018, whereas the number of arrivals of Croatian guests increased by 7.9% to 356,089, according to the data provided by the National Tourism Board (HTZ) on Tuesday.

Overnight stays in July fell by 1.3% to 30.5 million. Overnight stays by non-resident visitors declined by 2.2% to 26.97 million, whereas overnight stays by resident visitors increased by 6.1% to 3.56 million.

In the first seven months, Croatia registered 11.5 million arrivals, up 3.7%, and there were 10.1 million arrivals by foreign tourists (up 3.2%), who made 49.96 million overnight stays, up 0.2%. Domestic guests made 1.39 million arrivals (+7.1%) and 6.9 million overnight stays (+5.4%).

More news about Croatian tourism can be found in the Travel section.

ZAGREB, August 6, 2019 - A total of 6,212 new cars were sold in Croatia in July, which is 8.2% or 474 more cars than in July 2018, while in the first seven months of this year 44,368 new cars were sold, only 0.9% more than in the same period of 2018, the Promocija Plus agency reported.

The most sought-after brand so far this year has been Volkswagen, with 5,440 units sold, followed by Opel (4,519 vehicles sold), Renault (4,309 units sold), Skoda (4,014) and Dacia (2,789).

Also sold in the January-July period were 68 new Porsches, 1,130 Audis, 987 BMWs and 863 Mercedeses.

The best-selling car models so far have been the Skoda Octavia (2,300 units sold), the Renault Clio (1,924), the Volkswagen Golf (1,399), the Opel Corsa (1,273), and the Suzuki Vitara (1,267).

The Skoda Octavia was the most popular model also in July, with 460 vehicles sold, ahead of the Opel Corsa (240) and the VW Golf (226).

A total of 27,045 vehicles sold in the first seven months, or 61%, were powered by petrol, 15,757 or 35.5% were powered by diesel, 1,056 were hybrids and 87 were electric vehicles.

More news about the Croatian car market can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, August 2, 2019 - Croatia was among the EU countries with the highest retail trade in creasesin June, both month on month and year on year, according to figures released by Eurostat on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade in Croatia in June increased by 6.8% from May, when it had observed a decrease of 4.4%.

The highest monthly increases were registered in Croatia (+6.8%), Germany (+3.5%) and Poland (+2.8%), while the largest decreases were observed in Portugal (-0.9%), Ireland (-0.8%) and Slovenia (-0.5%).

In June 2019 compared with May 2019, the seasonally adjusted volume of retail trade increased by 1.2% in the EU28 and by 1.1% in the euro area. In May 2019, the retail trade volume decreased by 0.7% in the EU28 and by 0.6% in the euro area.

In June 2019 compared with June 2018, the calendar adjusted retail sales index increased by 2.8% in the EU28 and by 2.6% in the euro area.

The highest yearly increases in the total retail trade volume were registered in Croatia (+7.4%), Lithuania and Romania (both +5.7%) and Malta (+5.6%). The only decrease was observed in Slovakia (-0.4%).

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - Croatia's industrial production fell by more than 5% in June 2019 compared with the same month of 2018, its largest decrease since December 2018 and the first after five months of growth, data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Tuesday shows.

According to calendar-adjusted data, industrial production in June 2019 fell by 2.2% from the previous month and sank by 5.6% compared with June 2018. It was the first drop in production after five months of growth and the largest decline since December 2018 when it plummeted by 6.6% year on year.

In June 2019, compared with June 2018, the production of capital goods shrank by as much as 19.1%, the production of non-durable consumer goods declined by 3.8%, the production of intermediate goods fell by 3.7% and that of energy by 1.8%. Only the production of durable consumer goods observed an increase, of 7.8%.

In the first half of 2019, compared with the same period of 2018, industrial production rose by 0.9%. Last year, production contracted by 1%, its first decrease after four years of growth.

Analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) expect that the volume of industrial production will record "a modest, yet positive growth rate" in 2019.

"Industrial production may be supported by solid domestic demand, but a slowdown in Croatia's main foreign trade partners and the still low competitiveness may put a weight on the recovery of industry," RBA said.

Retail sales in Croatia in June 2019 increased by 6.3% on the month and by 6.1% on the year, their highest year-on-year increase since February when they jumped by 8.7%, according to figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Tuesday.

Retail sales thus returned to positive territory after decreasing by 2% in May year on year, which was their first drop after rising for 56 straight months.

Compared with June 2018, retail sales of food, beverages and tobacco products increased by 5.4%, while sales of non-food products jumped by 8.6%.

In the first half of 2019, compared with the same period of 2018, retail sales rose by 4.4%.

"Looking at the second quarter of this year alone, when retail trade increased by 3% year on year, a slight slowdown can be observed. However, it is quite certain that retail trade reflects and confirms that personal consumption will make the greatest contribution to GDP growth. As a result of positive trends on the labour market, growing credit activity and positive expectations, which will also be encouraged by planned tax reliefs, retail trade is expected to grow in the months ahead, albeit at somewhat more modest rates," analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment on the DZS report.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, July 30, 2019 - The Consumer Confidence Index continued to rise in June, reaching an all-time high since consumer expectations are measured, data from the Croatian National Bank (HNB) shows.

The increase in optimism in the second quarter of this year compared with the first quarter reflected more favourable movements of all three composite indices.

Compared with May, the Consumer Expectations Index, which reflects the expectations of consumers for the next 12 months with regard to the financial situation of their household and the general economic situation in Croatia, returned to positive territory, from -1.6 to 1.8, rising by 3.4 percentage points year on year.

The Consumer Confidence Index was -2.8, its historically highest level, increasing by 1.3 percentage points from May and by as much as 6.4 percentage points from June 2018. It indicated improved expectations about the financial situation of households in the next 12 months, improved expectations about the economic situation in the country in the next 12 months and improved expectations about purchases of durable goods in the next 12 months compared with the previous 12 months.

The Consumer Sentiment Index, which reveals changes in the financial situation of households in the last 12 months, expectations about the economic situation in the country and expectations in terms of whether it is the right time to purchase durable goods, rose by 10.6 percentage points year on year and by 9.4 percentage points month on month.

Analysts at Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) expect the positive movements of the three indices to have a positive impact on retail trade. The National Bureau of Statistics is due to release data on retail sales in June on Tuesday.

More economic news can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, July 18, 2019 - Croatia's survey unemployment rate stood at 7.6% in the first quarter of 2019, decreasing by 2.7 percentage points from the same period in 2018 and by 1 percentage point from the previous quarter, a labour force survey carried out by the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) shows.

A comparison with data provided by the Croatian Employment Service (HZZ) and other administrative sources shows that the survey unemployment rate was 2.4 percentage points lower than the "administrative" rate, which was 10% in Q1.

It also showed that of 136,000 persons out of work according to the labour force survey, 103,000 or 76.2% were registered with the HZZ, while 23.8% were not. At the same time, of 154,000 jobless persons registered with the HZZ, 51,000 or 32.7% did not meet the international unemployment criteria.

According to the survey, 1.66 million Croatians were out of work in the first quarter of 2019, an increase of about 17,000 on the previous quarter and of 45,000 on the first quarter of 2018.

The employment rate, which shows the proportion of gainfully employed persons in the working-age population, was 47.2% in the first quarter of this year, up from 46.6% in the fourth quarter of 2018 and from 45.7% in the first quarter of 2018.

The survey showed that the number of working-age people, aged 15 and above, in the first quarter of 2019 was 3.52 million, of whom 1.79 million were active (employed and unemployed) and 1.73 million inactive.

The activity rate, which shows the proportion of economically active people in the working age population, was 51% in the first quarter of 2019, the same as in the previous quarter and in the first quarter of last year.

More news about unemployment in Croatia can be found in the Business section.

ZAGREB, June 28, 2019 - Retail sales in Croatia in May 2019 were 2% lower than in May 2018, which is the first time they dropped after going up for 56 months.

The national statistical office on Friday published a report on retail trade and its working-day adjusted statistics show that consumption in May was 4.6% down from the previous month and 2% down from May 2018.

Analysts of Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said in their comment on the report that the monthly and annual declines in retail trade had unpleasantly surprised the market, ending a record 56-month streak of growing annual consumption that started in September 2014.

The monthly and annual consumption decreases occurred despite a relatively high degree of consumer optimism and expectations and the fact that wages and employment have continued to grow, the analysts said.

Preliminary figures on tourist arrivals and overnight stays indicate a decline and warn of a high degree of dependence on tourism, the analysts said, noting that they expected retail trade to slow down mildly this year to 3.5%.

Croatia's industrial output in May 2019 was up 0.2% year-on-year, and May was the fifth month in a row to see industrial output rise albeit at a lower rate than in previous months, figures from the national statistical office (DZS) show.

The production of durable consumer goods recorded the highest growth, of 5.6%, followed by energy production, which grew by 1.2%.

The production of non-durable consumer goods increased by 0.7%, followed by the production of intermediate goods, which grew by 0.3%.

On the other hand, the production of capital goods fell by 4.8%.

Industrial production in 2018 dropped by 1% on the year, for the first time after four years of growth.

In the first five months of 2019, industrial output grew by 2.2% compared to the same period of 2018.

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

ZAGREB, June 4, 2019 - Croatian companies in 2018 earned more than 28.3 billion kuna in net profit, which is a significant improvement compared to the year before, when they incurred a net loss of close to 3.1 billion kuna, shows a report published by the Financial Agency (FINA) on Tuesday.

A total of 131,117 Croatian enterprises that are subject to profit taxation, not including banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions, in 2018 earned revenues in the amount of 751.2 billion kuna and their expenses totalled 715.4 billion. Compared to 2017, the total revenue was 8.6% higher while expenses were 4% higher.

A profit amounting to 46.9 billion kuna in total was earned by 88,824 businesses (68%) while 42,293 businesses (32%) incurred losses in the amount of 18.7 billion kuna in total.

Compared to 2017, the profit earned by businesses rose by 15.2% while the loss dropped by 57.4%, resulting in a net profit of more than 28.2 billion kuna. In 2017, a net loss of slightly below 3.1 billion kuna was incurred.

The highest revenue in 2018 was reported by the INA oil company, in the amount of 18.4 billion kuna, and INA also reported the highest profit, of 1.3 billion kuna.

The Konzum retail chain had the highest number of employees, 9,419, a drop compared to 2017, when it employed 10,487 people.

Croatian businesses in 2018 employed 939,954 workers, which is 48,428 workers or 5.2% more than in 2017.

Most of the businesses, close to 29,000, operated in the commerce sector, and they earned the highest revenue, of 251.2 billion kuna, while businesses in the manufacturing sector employed the most workers, more than 241,000, an increase of 2.4% from 2017.

The average monthly net wage in 2018 was 5,584 kuna, 4.1% more than in 2017, when it amounted to 5,366 kuna.

Broken down by size, most businesses were micro businesses - 117,943 or 90%, followed by small businesses, 11,317 or 8.6%, medium businesses, 1,498 or 1.1%, and large businesses, 359 or 0.3%.

All groups of businesses ended the year 2018 with a profit. The net profit of micro businesses was slightly more than two billion kuna, small businesses earned 6.6 billion kuna in profit, medium businesses earned 7.8 billion, and large businesses 11.8 billion.

A total of 19,594 Croatian businesses exported their products in 2018, and foreign sales accounted for 147.2 billion kuna of total revenue, an increase in exports of 8.6% from 2017.

In the same period, 132.4 billion kuna worth of commodities was bought on foreign markets, with the trade surplus totalling 14.8 billion kuna.

More Business news can be found in the Business section.