Croatia

Croatia is hoping to take full advantage of its 2023 accession to the euro area and the Schengen area. The Tourism Ministry reports that total income from tourism, including revenue from domestic tourists, reached EUR 15bn in 2022 (22.2% of GDP). This figure will likely be matched in 2023. The tourism sector started the year strongly, recording 5.3m overnight stays in Q1 2023 – up 19.6% year on year. Investment in infrastructure is also expected to grow, driven by transfers from the EU budget: under the EU’s recovery and resilience facility, the country has been allocated EUR 6.3bn, largely to support the implementation of its climate change adaptation measures by 2026; and it will receive some EUR 9.1bn from the EU Cohesion Fund in the 2021-2027 financing period. Inflation is in single digits, and we maintain our earlier, pring projection that it will average 6.5% for the year as a whole. Despite the recent slowdown, however, inflation will remain elevated, limiting household purchasing power and raising uncertainty. For this reason, we maintain our spring 2023 growth forecast that the economy will grow by only 2.5% in 2023.
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FORECAST* |
Main Economic Indicators | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
Population, 1000 persons | 4047 | 3949 | 3857 | . | . | . |
GDP, real change in % | -8.5 | 13.1 | 6.2 | 2.5 | 2.9 | 3.1 |
GDP per capita (EUR at PPP) | 19460 | 22570 | 25730 | . | . | . |
Gross industrial production, real change in % | -2.7 | 6.3 | 1.2 | . | . | . |
Unemployment rate - LFS, in %, average | 7.5 | 7.6 | 7.0 | 6.8 | 6.7 | 6.6 |
Average gross monthly wages, EUR | 1223 | 1275 | 1380 | . | . | . |
Consumer prices, % p.a. | 0.0 | 2.7 | 10.7 | 6.5 | 4.0 | 3.0 |
Fiscal balance in % of GDP | -7.3 | -2.5 | 0.4 | -2.4 | -2.0 | -1.8 |
Public debt in % of GDP | 86.9 | 78.3 | 68.8 | . | . | . |
Current account in % of GDP | -0.5 | 1.8 | -1.6 | -1.0 | -0.4 | 0.2 |
FDI inflow, EUR m | 1111 | 3903 | 3488 | . | . | . |
Gross external debt in % of GDP | 81.8 | 81.0 | 74.0 | . | . | . |
Basic data are continuously updated.
* Forecasts are changed beginning of January, April, July and November.
See Press Conferences.
publication_icon
Monthly Report No. 7-8/2023
Vasily Astrov, Alexandra Bykova, Rumen Dobrinsky, Selena Duraković, Meryem Gökten, Richard Grieveson, Doris Hanzl-Weiss, Gabor Hunya, Branimir Jovanović, Niko Korpar, Sebastian Leitner, Isilda Mara, Olga Pindyuk, Sandor Richter, Bernd Christoph Ströhm, Maryna Tverdostup, Nina Vujanović, Zuzana Zavarská and Adam Żurawski
wiiw Monthly Report No. 7-8, July-August 2023
51 pages including 3 Tables, 24 Figures and 1 Box
Details
publication_icon
Executive summary
Olga Pindyuk
in: Sailing Through Rough Waters
wiiw Forecast Report No. Spring 2023, April 2023 , pp. I-VI
Details
Croatia is hoping to take full advantage of its 2023 accession to the euro area and the Schengen area. The Tourism Ministry reports that total income from tourism, including revenue from domestic tourists, reached EUR 15bn in 2022 (22.2% of GDP). This figure will likely be matched in 2023. The tourism sector started the year strongly, recording 5.3m overnight stays in Q1 2023 – up 19.6% year on year. Investment in infrastructure is also expected to grow, driven by transfers from the EU budget: under the EU’s recovery and resilience facility, the country has been allocated EUR 6.3bn, largely to support the implementation of its climate change adaptation measures by 2026; and it will receive some EUR 9.1bn from the EU Cohesion Fund in the 2021-2027 financing period. Inflation is in single digits, and we maintain our earlier, pring projection that it will average 6.5% for the year as a whole. Despite the recent slowdown, however, inflation will remain elevated, limiting household purchasing power and raising uncertainty. For this reason, we maintain our spring 2023 growth forecast that the economy will grow by only 2.5% in 2023.