Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said during a visit to the northern Adriatic city of Pula that the latest growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of 1.2% meant that Croatia had come out of the crisis, adding that the rate of economic growth in the next quarter would more than likely be even higher.
The National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Friday released its initial estimate according to which Gross Domestic Product in the second quarter of 2015 had grown by 1.2% on the year.
"This is a figure we can be quite pleased with. We are no longer in the early 2000s and what is more important is growth in exports and industrial production and after that consumption. These are all the results of certain active measures, reduction of some tax rates, and the neighbourhood yes, and not just because of Croatia's membership of the European Union, because if that was the case then all EU member states would be equally in good order and not one would have problems, which isn't the case," Milanovic told reporters after touring the Uljanik shipyard.
He added that Croatia had benefited from the European Union and that the government had been particularly efficient this year in absorbing European funds. "Last year we were in the black and in the first half of this year alone we absorbed three times more money than in the first half of last year. That didn't happen of its own accord, but we had to prepare and do it, apply for funds and receive approval. If that were not the case then membership of the European Union would be just a spiritual exercise and nothing more. What we want is a financial benefit and we have it," he said.
According to a recent European Commission financial report, Croatia absorbed 173.6 million euro more in 2014 than it contributed into the EU budget. The surplus was significantly higher than in 2013 when it amounted to 49.6 million euro. In the first half of this year Croatia received 2.8 billion kuna more than last year when it received 1.1 billion kuna.
This is the third consecutive quarter that GDP has grown and it has grown faster than previously when the economy strengthened by 0.5% on an annual level, which shows that Croatia has come out of the six-year long crisis.
The DZS said that according to seasonally adjusted indicators GDP had grown by 0.7% in the second quarter of 2015 compared to the first quarter and by 1.4% in comparison with the second quarter of 2014.
(Text: Hina)
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