Croatian government sets up three working groups for investment

The Croatian government, at its session on Thursday, established working groups for public investment, EU funds, and the business climate and private investment in a bid to attract and increase public and private investments.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Branko Grcic, said that in the past four years of crisis investments turned out to be the key problem, because of all components of aggregate demand they had declined the most, by nearly 35 per cent.
Private investments, which have fallen nearly 40 per cent, are a particular problem, and given that they account for nearly 80 per cent of all investments, they are clearly a key factor of the crisis and of future economic recovery and growth, Grcic said.
That's why the government has decided to set up three working groups: to implement key public investment projects, public company projects and projects that are financed from the state budget; to absorb as much of the EU funds as possible; and to improve the business and investment climate in the country by removing administrative and other barriers to private investment.
Grcic said that partners from the private sector, employers and experts would be involved in implementing these goals. He stressed the importance of transparency of the entire process, adding that all projects would be discussed at meetings of the working groups where problems should be effectively addressed with the political support of the government.
He also highlighted great expectations from the recently-adopted Investment Stimulation Act and the Strategic Investment Bill, the purpose of which is to speed up the procedure and remove any obstacles to large projects whose value exceeds 20 million euros, or 50 million euros in case of tourism projects.
Grcic said that the Investment and Competition Agency would also play an important role by providing support to the working group for the business climate and private investment, while the Energy Investment Centre would be in charge of all public investment projects.
(Hina)




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