January the 14th, 2023 - The price increases we've witnessed up and down the country ever since the euro was introduced on the first day of this year have been rather astonishing. While most people expected prices to go up a little bit, what has been happening is ''pure profiteering'' as Plenkovic himself described it. The government has stepped in with some measures, and it seems Croatian stores are being put well and truly under the radar of the authorities.

Economy Minister Davor Filipovic has been very vocal about the measures set to prevent Croatian stories from taking advantage of not only inflation but of the introduction of the new currency, and it appears that the idea of Croatian stores having to send their price lists to the government every two weeks for the foreseeable future is now on the table.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the deadline given by the government to all those who raised their prices unjustifiably to return them to what they were back before Croatia entered the Eurozone (December 2022), or sanctions would be imposed expired just a couple of days ago. Economy Minister Davor Filipovic repeated in an interview with Media Servis that either freezing the prices of a wider number of products or cancelling subsidies entirely is currently being considered in an attempt to combat this situation.

When asked why he was going off an the initial idea of having blacklists on which Croatian stores and service providers who had unjustifiably raised their prices would be placed, he replied that his ministry had sent a letter to the ten largest retail chains with the request that they provide the government with their respective price lists for about 80 products for the whole of last year.

"We've asked that they continue to deliver their price lists to us every two weeks, which we will put on the Internet and enable everyone to watch the price movements in the largest retail chains in one place. I'm not going to say that it is a black list, but if people can see it all and make a comparison in one place, it can be observed in that context,'' said Filipovic of the move.

"The State Inspectorate established that there was an increase in prices of food products from 6 to 20 percent, and that includes bakery products as well,'' he added.

You can read more about the scrutiny Croatian stores and other service providers have been placed under from the powers that be, which includes all authorities from the Tax Office to Customs and the State Inspectorate in our most recently published Week in Croatian Politics article, which discusses the topic at length.

July the 16th, 2022 - Croatian secret shoppers chosen by the Economy Ministry are out on the field monitoring the rollout of dual pricing in the country's stores as Eurozone accession rapidly approaches.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after the EU Council formalised the decision to introduce the euro as the official currency in the Republic of Croatia a mere four days ago, the Economy Ministry announced a group of Croatian secret shoppers who will monitor the situation for the sake of consumer protection during the transition to the new currency.

The competition held back in the spring selected six candidates from different parts of Croatia, who, in mid-August will start monitoring precisely how the prices of goods and services are recalculated out in the field during the mandatory dual pricing rule which is set to come into force in September 2022. Some stores, including large chains like Konzum, have already begun displaying their prices in this way.

The selected Croatian secret shoppers are from the Medjimurje Consumer Society and the Consumer Protection Development Organisation from Selnica in Medjimurje County, the Consumer Education and Information Centre from Bilje in Osijek-Baranja County, the Croatian Consumer Protection Association from Zagreb, the Consumer Rights Protection Association from Split, and the Association Consumer Centre from Rijeka.

How will it work?

Over the next thirty days, these Croatian secret shoppers will conclude a contract in which they will receive 112 to 120,000 kuna for their mystery shopping activities, and they will monitor and obtain consumer information until the end of next year, by which time the obligation of dual price reporting will be in full force and will have been for some time.

The plan is for the engaged associations to monitor price movements and the correctness of price recalculation and rounding on a monthly basis by reviewing 50 to 60 different goods and services, at a minimum of 10 points of sale and five points where various services are provided in exchange for money. The associations that have been selected as Croatian secret shoppers have the obligation to publish the results they've obtained regularly, more precisely by the 15th of each month, on their websites.

The plan is also for the situation on the ground to be checked by five people who will be hired by selected associations, and the tours should include, in addition to retailers, fuel stations, butchers, bakeries, as well as service providers such as hair salons and catering and hospitality facilities. For two hours, associations must also provide open telephone lines where consumers will be able to get information from them about those facilities who are wrongly trying to take advantage of the situation and make a profit.

Croatian secret shoppers will soon be placed in banks, as well...

It won't only be stores and other facilities under the radars of Croatian secret shoppers, banks won't be immune either. The Croatian National Bank noted that it will hire secret shoppers, or perhaps in this case it's better to call them secret clients, in order to monitor what practices are being carried out at bank counters, as well as at other credit intermediaries under its authority.

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ZAGREB, 22 Sept, 2021 - Economy Ministry state secretary Ivo Milatić said on Wednesday that electricity prices for households would not increase this year.

"You heard (power provider) HEP's clear statement that this is not being considered by the end of the year," he told Davor Dretar of the opposition Homeland Movement, who asked if electricity prices for households would go up this autumn.

Dario Zurovec of the opposition Fokus asked if arise was expected in a year's time given the turbulence on the world market.

Milatić said that if prices were corrected next year, the corrections "will not be as in neighbouring markets."

He said that if electricity prices continued to increase, some corrections would be inevitable, but added that Croatia was in a different position as 60% of the total energy production was renewable, with half of that from the hydro potential.

Household electricity prices won't be raised for political reasons

Mirela Ahmetović of the opposition SDP said household electricity prices would not be raised for political reasons but that they would be for businesses and that this would affect households through more expensive goods.

She said Croatia imported almost 35% of electricity and that this made it dependent on galloping prices.

Milatić said Croatia was in a "good position" with regard to the price of electricity and would stay there.

Croatia ranks 26th among 33 European countries when it comes to household and 21st when it comes to corporate electricity prices, he said, adding that refunds for energy poor citizens would increase if the price of energy they could not pay went up.

He also said that significant funds were envisaged to co-finance the construction of charging stations for electric cars.

Milatić said Croatia had a number of power providers, with HEP's companies holding 80% of the market. This is good, he said, as Croatia is not as affected by prices as some other countries.

MPs were debating an electricity market bill which envisages transition to clean energy and transposes an EU directive on common rules for the electricity market. One of its main novelties is that Croatian households will be able to buy electricity from a provider in any other EU member state and their citizens will be able to buy it from HEP.

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ZAGREB, 8 Sept, 2021 - Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Tomislav Ćorić said on Wednesday that he does not see any reason that would lead to higher electricity and gas bills for citizens.

Asked ahead of an inner cabinet meeting whether electricity and gas bills would increase, Ćorić said that he did not see any reason at the moment for that to happen.

"There is no absolute certainty that that won't occur, however, I do not see any reason for it to happen," he said.

In reference to an electricity price hike for enterprises, Ćorić said that one needs to be aware of the fact that the domestic electricity market is liberalised and functions in line with European and global markets.

"Those enterprises who concluded long-term contracts last year will not feel the price hike in the coming period, however, those enterprises which are doing that now will feel the adjustment on the market," he underscored.

The assumption is that many enterprises have protected themselves against unexpected changes and Ćorić doesn't believe that the price hike for electricity will be as high as 40% as reported in the media over the past few days, however, he added, a certain adjustment in prices will occur.

"This tells us that business conditions need to be stabilised, that is to avoid certain risks, and that can be achieved so that prices are agreed for a longer period," said Ćorić.

Asked whether entrepreneurs who didn't manage to conclude long-term contracts would transfer the higher cost to its consumers by increasing the price of their products, Ćorić said that the price of electricity is one of the key inputs in production which directly results in an increase in the cost of production.

"You either have to decrease your margin or increase the price of your product. That is how the market functions," he concluded, adding that those enterprises which were astute and contracted the price of electricity can now provide more competitive products.

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ZAGREB, 5 Sept, 2021 - Economy Minister Tomislav Ćorić said on Sunday that the Value Added Tax (VAT) on food would not be lowered this year, considering the fact that the economy has just started to stablise since the 2020 crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The reduction of the VAT rate cannot be implemented this year. We have just started to stabilise since the crisis in 2020. Such moves should be considered within medium-term perspectives, that is in one or two years," the minister said in his address to the press while attending his ministry's green campaign "#ZaZeleniSvakiDan" in downtown Zagreb.

The minister expects the stabilisation of the prices on the global market in the coming months and the effects of that trend on the Croatian market after that.

"The stabilisation of chains of distribution is a prerequisite for the stabilisation of price of food and also of construction material," he added.

The minister is hopeful that 2022 would usher in stabilisation, supported by some measures from the field of the monetary policy.

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ZAGREB, 24 Aug, 2021 - Member of Parliament Anka Mrak-Taritaš on Tuesday said that it seems there won't be anything of Zagreb's reconstruction following the earthquake that hit the city 17 months ago and that the lack of goodwill for reconstruction is "the greatest shame of Andrej Plenković's government." 

Seventeen months after the earthquake, there is still nothing regarding Zagreb's reconstruction. There is no longer even any meetings between the government and City authorities. Damir Vanđelić, the director of the Fund for Reconstruction and Economy Minister Darko Horvat have even stopped debating in the media about who is more at fault for that," Mrak-Taritaš told a press conference on Tuesday.

As an example of what could have been done in that time, she recalled that the Empire State Building with its 102 floors was built in sixteen months' time, "and without disrupting traffic."

MP Mrak-Tartiaš warned that eight months had passed since money from the EU Solidarity Fund was paid into the government's account and "that Croatia is at risk of being the first member state to not spend that money within the set deadline and that the country might be compelled to repay it to the EU budget, while at the same time the government is using alibis why things are not being done, from the law to the programme of measures and the fund." 

The sole GLAS lawmaker believes that "it is absolutely certain now" that there won't be anything of Zagreb's reconstruction as that "requires the know-how, good management and will, yet there is none of that." She concluded that the fact that there is no will is the Plenković's government's greatest shame and sin of not doing anything."

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ZAGREB, 19 Aug, 2021 - Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić told the press on Thursday that Croatia's economy would expand by more than five percent in 2021 on the back of excellent results in the tourist sector so far this year.

Considering the trends in the tourist season and results in July and in the first half of August, I can point out that we in the government expect that our forecasts of economic growth of more than five percent will turn out to be correct, he told reporters after the government's meeting.

If the positive trends in the tourist trade continue in the remainder of the season, the growth can be even higher, he said, adding that he is optimistic about that.

After a downturn of 8% in 2020, the Croatian economy is expected to rebound by 5.2% in 2021, according to the government's projections.

Ćorić added that the government had today decided to allocate HRK 30 million for the completion of an entrepreneurial centre in prefab containers in Petrinja.

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ZAGREB, 27 July, 2021 - Economy Ministry officials on Tuesday presented contracts awarded as part of the HRK 326.3 million public call "Increasing Energy Efficiency and the Use of Renewables in Manufacturing Industries", with the total value of the projects to be implemented standing at HRK 672 million.

340 businesses applied to the call, and 28 - five micro and small businesses, six medium-size businesses and 17 big companies - were awarded money from the EU Competitiveness and Cohesion Fund.

Economy and Sustainable Development Minister Tomislav Ćorić said he expected the companies that were given grants to increase their energy efficiency as well as competitiveness as a result of lower energy consumption and increased production efficiency.

He noted that significant funds were envisaged for that purpose also under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan and that domestic businesses could expect new calls for applications by the end of this year and the beginning of 2022.

The approved grants must be invested in the next one to two years.

As a small, open economy, in the previous decades Croatia mostly exploited its development capacity in the services sector, including tourism, while now national plans and strategies should put special emphasis on manufacturing industries so that the country can catch up with EU standards, Ćorić said, adding that domestic producers could impact export as one of the key variables of the national economy.

"There will be more calls like this one in the period to come," he said.

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July the 24th, 2021 - The Croatian Economy Ministry is seeking the help of the population in an attempt to try to stop the continuing deaths of the beautiful noble pen shells in the Croatian Adriatic sea.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, due to the terrible outbreak of a deadly infection that has negatively affected the population of noble pen shells (Pinna nobilis) throughout the Mediterranean, including the Croatian Adriatic sea, the Institute for Environmental Protection and Nature of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development through the action "Did you see them?/Jeste li ih vidjeli?" is calling upon members of society to report locations where they've spotted the shells.

The Croatian Economy Ministry's praiseworthy action related to the noble pen shell (Pinna nobilis) in the Adriatic sea will remain current throughout the entire year, but its importance will be the most pronounced in the summer months when the possibility of observing marine organisms in their natural habitat is increased due to more swimming taking place.

There is a decreasing number of living pen shell individuals in the sea, so it is crucial for the survival of the species to find potentially resistant individuals that could further reproduce and create natural "immunity" against the disease which is ravaging their population.

Since the first outbreak and mass death in the Croatian part of the Adriatic sea, seventeen living individuals of noble pen shell existing in nature have been confirmed in various locations along the Adriatic.

When identifying living individuals out in nature, it is necessary to check whether the individual reacts by closing its shell to an external stimulus, or to the movement of the sea water in its immediate vicinity. Namely, just seeing upright part of the shell in the sediment doesn't necessarily imply that it is in fact a living individual, and one must see if there is a reaction to its surroundings.

The Croatian Economy Ministry has stated that the pen shell is a strictly protected species, so it must not be touched, and any intentional extraction of living or dead individuals (empty shells) of is prohibited under Croatian law, writes N1.

All information about live individuals, the locations where you observed them and photos of them can be reported to the website of the Institute for Environmental Protection and Nature of the Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development by contacting This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

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