The Croatian gross domestic product in the second quarter of this year increased by 6.6 percent in real terms compared to the same period last year, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics announced today.
This remains a high rate of economic growth, although slightly lower than in the first quarter of this year when GDP grew by 7.0 percent in real terms, which was the highest quarterly growth rate in the past ten years. Data from the CBS on quarterly GDP growth rates since the beginning of 2003 show that the rate of 6.6 percent is the second highest quarterly growth rate in the past four and a half years. The growth of GDP in the second quarter of this year was most influenced by personal consumption, which recorded a growth of 6.5 percent compared to the second half of last year. This is a slightly lower rate than in the first quarter of this year when personal consumption recorded a growth of 7.1 percent, but it is also the second highest quarterly growth rate of personal consumption since the beginning of 2003.
In the second quarter of this year, more favorable trends in foreign trade were also recorded, namely a faster growth of exports of goods and services compared to imports – exports grew at a rate of 8.9 percent, while imports grew by 6.4 percent compared to the second quarter of last year. Government consumption in the second quarter of this year increased by 2.7 percent compared to the same period last year, which is just slightly lower than the 2.8 percent from the first half of the year. A slowdown is recorded in capital investments, which after a growth of 11.2 percent in the first quarter of this year recorded a growth of 5.8 percent in the second, which is also the lowest rate in the last two years.
