Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister satisfied with strong increase in profits, exports

The rise in profits and exports of Croatian companies is encouraging and confirms the good trends the government is talking about, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Branko Grcic and Finance Minister Boris Lalovac said on Wednesday.

The rise in profits and exports of Croatian companies is encouraging and confirms the good trends the government is talking about, Deputy Prime Minister and Regional Development and EU Funds Minister Branko Grcic and Finance Minister Boris Lalovac said on Wednesday.

According to Financial Agency data, Croatian enterprises generated profits in 2014 that were 139.5 percent higher than in 2013, while the profits of the 1,000 biggest companies jumped 71%.

Eurostat data shows that in the first quarter of this year, Croatia was among the top three European Union member states with the highest year-on-year jump in the export of commodities, with export growth rates to other EU member states and the rest of the world above 10%.

In Q1 2015, Croatia's export of commodities jumped 14% on the year, with only Cyprus and Ireland posting higher rates, 54% and 18% respectively.

A serious turnabout in the Croatian economy, notably small enterprises, became visible in 2014, Grcic told reporters. Big companies and the public sector are still undergoing reconstruction and progress is expected there as well, he said, adding that the biggest step forward was due to higher exports and the growth of industrial production.

He said Eurostat's data, released today, on Croatia's export growth in Q1 2015 "only shows that our forecasts of economic growth this year are quite justified. We are third in export growth in the EU, which is indeed encouraging and good news."

This is a result of Croatia's EU integration, as is the increase in foreign direct investments and the inflow of European funds, Grcic said.

Lalovac said the increase in corporate profits could in part be attributed to regulations on reinvested profit, which left more money in companies than before.

Fiscal indicators on the deficit and VAT collection are also better in this year's first few months, Lalovac said, hoping that the trends would step up during the summer tourist season.

"However, let's not be mistaken. This doesn't solve the long term structural problems of the Croatian economy and it will probably take some more time for a stronger economic recovery and to put state finances under better supervision," he said.

(Text: Hina)

 

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