Government to launch roadshow to promote investment stimulation measures

The government said on Thursday it had prepared a roadshow to promote its measures aimed at encouraging investments and restructuring the economy in five cities -- Split, Osijek, Varazdin, Rijeka and Zagreb.

The roadshow begins on February 25 in Split where business people, local government authorities and interested citizens will be presented with specific measures being taken by the government, the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR), HAMAG Invest and other state agencies to stimulate investment, as well as with possibilities of using EU funds, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds, Branko Grcic, told the press after a Cabinet meeting.
Also presented will be various facilities under the Investment Stimulation and Promotion Act, the Strategic Investments Act, and the 2013 Business Impulse plan.
The HBOR last year increased its loans to enterprises by 3.5 billion kuna, especially for specific investment projects and exports, while the state investment agency HAMAG Invest nearly doubled its guarantee capital and the number of applications for guarantees increased by 94 per cent.
Grcic said that his ministry had signed 160 million euros worth of contracts last year. By comparison, 250 million euros worth contracts had been signed in the previous five years.
Grcic said that the forthcoming accession of Croatia to the European Union was expected to reduce costs of financing and increase the availability of capital to Croatian businesses through the liberalisation of the capital market, the inflow of free transfers from the EU, foreign direct investments and privatisation processes.
Grcic noted that in the past four years of the recession investments in the public sector had dropped 35 per cent, and in the private sector even more. As many as 100,000 jobs were lost in the real sector, while at the same time an additional 12,000 people were employed in the public sector.
He said that the present government was sparing no effort to facilitate investments.
(Hina)




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