PM Plenkovic: This is first time Croatia earned more than it spent

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic on Friday underscored that in 2017 Croatia had achieved a unique result in public finances when for the first time ever it earned more than it spent.

Earlier in the day, the national statistical office (DZS) reported that Croatia recorded for the first time a general government surplus of HRK 2.7 billion in 2017, while the debt to GDP ratio fell below 78%. That is the first general government surplus since 2002, since that data has been collected.

"Today, we have official confirmation of what we had previously announced and last year we achieved a unique result in public financing and for the first time ever, Croatia earned more than it spent," the prime minister says in a press release.

"That result is beyond expectation but in keeping with our responsible management of fiscal policy," he added.

That concretely means, the press release says, that Croatia reduced the debt per each Croatian citizen by HRK 780 on average, compared to 2015, when the debt for the average citizen was about HRK 2,800 and in 2016 it was HRK 655.

Public debt has fallen too

DZS on Friday said that public debt at the end of 2017 amounted to HRK 283.3 billion and the debt to GDP ratio fell to 78%, a record low since 2012 when it was 69.4% to GDP.

The debt, however, is HRK 1.6 billion or 0.6 percent higher than at the end of 2016.

However, since the economy grew by 2.8% faster than in 2016, the debt to GDP ratio also fell, by 2.6 percentage points from the end of 2016, when it stood at 80.6% of GDP.

Plenkovic says that this financial result confirms the government's resolute policy to achieve one of its strategic objectives and that is to consolidate public finances and reduce public debt which was confirmed in 2017 with Croatia's exiting the excessive budget deficit procedure.

Encouragement for even better results

Plenkovic underlines that the government's efforts have been recognised by international financial institutions and rating agencies and for the first time since 2004 they have upgraded Croatia's credit rating.

"I am convinced that this result will be a further encouragement to achieve even better results of responsibly managing finance policies and that in the foreseeable time, the results will lead to our credit rating being upgraded even more to investment level which will then additionally boost Croatia's economic growth and living standards for Croatians. Croatia is continuing with reforms in strengthening economic competitiveness, increasing employment and maintaining sustainable public finances," said Plenkovic.

Text: Hina

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