Economic Information

1. Perface

Since the economic and financial crisis of 2008, Croatia had much to contend with the ripple effects. The country had lost one - sixth of its economic power during the depression. Anyway, for the coming years, a economic recovery is emerged.

2. GDP (gross domestic product) development

- 2012: approximately - 2.2% GDP - extension compared to last year

- 2013: approximately - 1.1%  GDP - extension compared to last year

- 2014: approximately - 0.4 % GDP - extension compared to last year, corresponding 43.1 bn. Euro

The GDP of Croatia increased in the first quarter of 2015 by 0,5 % , in the second already by 1.2%. Furthermore the volume of foreign trade recorded an increase of 8.4% in just the first 6 months of 2015.

3. Economic sectors

The service sector  is the main economic sector in Croatia with over 60%.

The field of tourism, which currently generates about 20 % of the value of the Country, counts to the most important sectors of the Croatian economy.

Only considered in 2014, 13.1 million tourists chose Croatia as a tourist destination, 5.6 % more than in the previous year. Nearly 2 million of these came from Germany.

The industrial sector of Croatia makes at present about 30% of the GDP. At the part of processing industrie, the dominating one is the food industry, followed by the publishing and printing industry , the production of non-metallic mineral products, chemical industry, the manufacture of metal products, transport equipment, electrical machinery and equipment, as well as the wood processing and manufacturing.  The economic part  of telecommunications should be the auspiciously economical field in the coming years.

4. Trading information

The share of exports in terms of GDP is in Croatia only about 24%. However especially the croatians accession to the European Union on 01.07.2013 has reinforced the bilateral trade with Germany. The european member states were crucial for the croatian foreign trade in the beforehand, too. In addition to Germany  Italy , Austria and Hungary are also major trading partners for Croatia.

Only in 2014 Croatia imported german merchandises in value of 2,5 billion Euro and exported goods in value of 1,2 billion to Germany. For imported goods from Germany this made an increase of almost 12%, for the exported goods to Germany a growth of nearly 3% only for the last year.

The improving of the bilateral trade relations between Germany and Croatia became also  clear with the growing interest in the German- Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Their increasing number of members grew in the recent years to more than 370 companies.

Although the end of 2014 the foreign exchange reserves of the Croatian National Bank currently amounted to 12.7 billion Euro . But even mid 2015 it has grown to a level of 14.9 billion Euro.

For a further and steady expansion of foreign trade, the Croatian government has made it for several years to a main objective of the economic policy to increase the competitiveness of the croatian industry in the european market even further. Already in recent years they carried out important reforms to improve the croatian market. Also in the next view years there are more projects expected.

5. Information on foreign investment

In the period from 1993 to the first quarter of 2015, the foreign investment amounted to approximately 28.8 billion Euros.

Particularly in the fields of finance, telecommunications , real estate, petrochemicals, oil and gas extraction, hospitality industry and pharmaceutical industry, money was invested here from abroad. With the accession of Croatia to the european union in 2013, the country had also access to substantial financial resources from appropriate funds for investment in infrastructure development and the promotion of their own agriculture. By using them these sectors were substantially expanded.

Since 2013 Croatia has also developed a number of sector-specific frameworks and improved the conditions for foreign investment through a variety of project.  In this context, a new investment protection law was passed and a new law to regulate the labor market. Also in September 2014 the new industrial strategy was adopted by the Croatian cabinet. It must be added, that Croatia only has started its reform program and should be followed by further amendments.