ZAGREB, 2 June, 2021 - The budget revision, proposed by the government today, keeps Croatia in a safe financial zone, Finance Minister Zdravko Marić said after the cabinet's meeting on Wednesday.

The proposed budget changes set the general government deficit at 3.8% of GDP, and the government believes that this increase still keeps Croatia in a safe zone in terms of economic and other activities as well as in terms of the opinion of credit rating agencies and the European Commission, he added.

The government is committed to reducing the public debt from 88.7% to 86.6% of GDP, this year, Marić said, announcing one more revision of this year's budget.

The proposed revision, adopted today, will probably be on the government's agenda next week.

The minister said that he was looking forward to a meeting with Zagreb's new mayor Tomislav Tomašević, and that he and his team would be at the disposal of the newly elected local authorities.

"As far as Zagreb is concerned, I am sure that the mayor and I will meet to discuss several things," he said, explaining that with regard to additional borrowing, laws were clear and applied equally to everybody.

Among the topics to be discussed with Tomašević is a limit on borrowing, he said in a comment on the topic of possible new borrowing, explaining that the amount needed to service debts and cover loan guarantees this year must not exceed 20% of last year's revenue.

With regard to the purchase of fighter jets for the army, Marić said that the government would be guided by pragmatic criteria only. Therefore, a certain amount could be paid as an advance this year, he added.

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ZAGREB, 2 June, 2021 - Every entrepreneur should have one opportunity to have their debt forgiven during their entrepreneurial life and to be able to do business without hindrance, Večernji List daily said on Wednesday.

This is provided for by the Directive on preventive restructuring frameworks and second chance from 2019, which EU member states have to introduce into their legislation by mid-2021, that is in a month.

The Croatian Ministry of Justice has also announced that it will initiate amendments to the Bankruptcy Act and the Consumer Bankruptcy Act to adapt them to the Directive, but a bill of amendments has not been presented yet so it remains unclear whether Croatia will additionally regulate discharge of business debts.

In Croatia, there are currently about 16,000 entrepreneurs with blocked accounts, and about 8,000 of them are companies, while the second half are craftsmen and other entrepreneurs who keep business books. The total debt of all entrepreneurs amounts to about HRK 6 billion.

The situation is much more difficult for nearly 240,000 citizens with blocked accounts, whose debt principal totals about HRK 17 billion.

So far, the state has twice written off debts of citizens with blocked accounts as part of special campaigns, but that has not significantly affected the overall situation.

Debt write-offs for entrepreneurs were the most common in pre-bankruptcy settlements established by former finance minister Slavko Linić during Zoran Milanović's term as prime minister. Later, the law changed and debt write-offs are now less frequent.

The EU Directive does not address citizens' debts directly, but it proposes that states apply the principle for debt forgiveness for entrepreneurs to over-indebted citizens.

Under the Directive, everyone should have the opportunity to have their debt written off in a procedure that should last no longer than three years, Večernji List said.

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ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) main indices on Tuesday continued their positive streak for the third consecutive trading day, with the Crobex going up 0.6% and the Crobex10 by 0.5%, while trading was modest.

The Crobex went up by 0.61% to 1,944.66 points and the Crobex10 by 0.48% to 1,202.22 points.

Regular trading was modest and amounted to HRK 3.8 million.

Not one stock crossed the million kuna turnover mark, and the closest to it was the Atlantska Plovidba shipping company, with HRK 941,600. Its price rose by 6.23% to HRK 375 per share.

A total of 39 stocks were traded today, with 20 registering a price increase, 9 registering a price decrease and 10 remaining stable.

(€1 = HRK 7.515997)

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ZAGREB, 1 June, 2021 - Podravka's project of a solar power plant, worth HRK 10.3 million, will be co-funded with a HRK 5.2 million grant by the European Union and the Croatian government under the Rural Development Programme, the Koprivnica-based food factory reported on Tuesday.

"The grant was awarded by the Ministry of Agriculture pursuant to a decision by the Agency for Payments in Agriculture, Fisheries and Rural Development, and pursuant to Podravka's application for implementation of the Sub-measure 4.2 'Support for investments in the processing, marketing and/or development of agricultural products' and implementation of operation type 4.2.2. 'Use of renewable energy sources'," the company said.

The expected period for return on investment with 50% support is 3.5 years.

The investment is valued at HRK 11.7 million, of which HRK 10.3 million is to be used for the construction of the solar power plant, while HRK 1.4 will be spent on the development of the measurement facility and the necessary transformer station.

"Podravka – Danica" 2.4 MW solar power plant is to be built at the Danica Industrial Zone in Koprivnica.

(€1= HRK 7.5)

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ZAGREB, 26 May, 2021 - The main Zagreb Stock Exchange indices ended the day in different directions on Wednesday, with investors focusing on the preferred shares of the Adris tourism and insurance group and the Valamar Riviera hotel group.

The Crobex fell for the fourth day running and dropped by 0.16% to 1,932.26 points. 

After falling for two days, the Crobex10 picked up and ended the day at 1,197.56 points, increasing by 0.20%.

Regular turnover amounted to HRK 8.85 million or about 450,000 more than on Tuesday.

The most liquid stock was the Adris Group with a turnover of HRK 3.2 million of its preferred shares, which closed at a price of HRK 410 per share, down 0.49%.

The Valamar Riviera hotel group was the only other stock to cross the million kuna mark. It generated a turnover of HRK 1.2 million. Its shares jumped in price by 0.67% to close at 30 kuna. 

Of the 36 stocks that traded today, only 9 registered share price increases.

(€1 = HRK 7.505183)

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ZAGREB, 26 May, 2021 - The JANAF oil pipeline and storage system said on Wednesday it had signed its first contract with Austria's OMV Supply & Trading Ltd for storing up to 99,000 cubic metres of crude oil at the Omišalj Terminal for a period of two years.

Management said the contract confirmed JANAF's strong export orientation, adding that the company generated over 60% of its revenue from foreign clients.

The new contract ensures the further use of our storage capacity and stable business in the longer term, Management Board chairman Stjepan Adanić and Board member Vladislav Veslica said.

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ZAGREB, 26 May, 2021 - Amendments to the Capital Market Act, which are aimed at further aligning Croatia's regulatory framework with the EU acquis, were supported on Wednesday by both the Opposition and the ruling majority in the parliament, who expressed hopes for the revival of the capital market. 

This is one of the most complicated laws that summarises what kind of capital market Europe wants, said Social Democrat MP Boris Lalovac, warning that Croatia's capital market was far less developed than the European.

"The value of the capital market in Croatia is HRK 276 billion, 140 billion are stocks and 130 billion securities, the annual turnover of the Zagreb Stock Exchange is around HRK 3 billion while the turnover on the OTC market is HRK 27 billion," Lalovac said.

That shows that outside of the stock exchange and capital markets, which have strict rules, trading is ten times greater, Lalovac said, expressing hope this would change.

Grozdana Perić of the HDZ said that better oversight and regulation would enable further development of the capital market in Croatia.

She warned, however, that the coronavirus crisis had caused an outflow of funds from investment funds and that their value had dropped by more than 35% or HRK 8 billion.

That is one of the reasons for amending the law, said the State Secretary at the Finance Ministry, Stjepan Čuraj, who presented the amendments to MPs.

"If we take as an example the Zagreb Stock Exchange alone, during the pandemic in 2020 it dropped by more than 35%, from 2,000 to 1,300 basis points," Čuraj said, noting that there was room for improvement.

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ZAGREB, 26 May, 2021 - The volume of construction work in March 2021 was 16% higher than in March 2020, while compared to the previous month, it dropped by 0.4%, show preliminary data from the Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

March was the tenth consecutive month with a year-on-year increase in the volume of construction work.

The volume of construction work on buildings in March this year was 16.5% up from March 2020 while the volume of work on other structures rose 15.3%.

Compared to February 2021, construction work on buildings in March was up 0.5% and on other structures it was 3.9% higher.

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ZAGREB, 25 May, 2021 - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) Crobex dropped 0.27% to 1,935.39 points and the Crobex10 fell by 0.40% to 1,195.19 points on Tuesday.

Today's turnover totalled HRK 8.4 million, or HRK 900,000 more than on Monday.

In terms of the volume of trading, the best performer was the HT telecom company (1.4 million), and its share price rose 0.54% to HRK 185.

The preferred shares of the Adris Group turned over 1.3 million, and their price slid 1.20% to HRK 412.

The Valamar Riviera stock turned over 1.1 million, and its share price increased 1.36% to HRK 29.80.

The Atlantska Plovidba shipping company generated a turnover of slightly over a million kuna, seeing a share price fall of 1.63% to HRK 361.

A total of 39 stocks traded today, with 16 of them registering share price decreases, 14 rising and eight remaining unchanged.

(€1= HRK 7.506870)

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ZAGREB, 25 May, 2021 - The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) has proposed measures for maintaining liquidity and launching private investments which include retaining jobkeeping measures and covering a portion of fixed costs, ensuring favourable loans and prolonging loan maturity.

In expectation of COVID measures and lockdown of businesses being lifted, HUP addressed Finance Minister Zdravko Marić and underscored that maintaining liquidity is not only relevant during the lockdown period but should be extended for a longer period, and that recovery can only be possible if investments are boosted.

HUP proposes that jobkeeping measures be extended even after busines restrictions are lifted until such time that  all enterprises generate at least 90% of their pre-pandemic revenue in 2019. HUP believes that abolishing support measures for the economy should be gradual, depending on the epidemiological situation, but also on the circumstances in each individual sector so that Croatia is not faced with a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs.

HUP also calls for a portion of fixed costs to continue to be covered, taking account of the percentage revenue has decreased, and for facilitating access to loans for liquidity and working capital, including guarantee schemes for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises.

HUP advocates possibly transforming a portion of loans into grants and for the moratorium on loan maturities to be extended for existing loans, along with state guarantees, at least until the end of this year and longer if need be, based on transparent criteria.

HUP proposes additional support loans for exporters and enterprises investing in the 4.0 industry, and support for investments by large companies through increased support for EU co-funded projects.

It also recommends the possibility of deleveraging debts between companies to prevent a chain reaction, and for non-recoverable loans to be identified faster, as well as speeding up bankruptcy procedures, and introducing additional tax cuts.

"We believe that government subsidies to cover the disrupted economic activities due to the COVID crisis should continue until such time that enterprises can do business normally and save jobs without that support," HUP said.

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