Croatian entrepreneurs achieved total revenues of 322.9 billion kuna in the first six months of this year, while total expenses amounted to 305.8 billion kuna, resulting in revenues being 17.1 billion kuna higher than expenses, according to data released today by the Financial Agency.
It is noted that in the first half of this year, Croatian entrepreneurs operated under the highest inflation in the past five years – at 6.2 percent, and Fina assesses the business results from the first half of this year as successful. Compared to the first six months of last year, total expenses of Croatian entrepreneurs increased by 12.9 percent in the first half of this year, while expenses recorded a slightly faster growth of 14.3 percent. Fina’s data also shows that Croatian entrepreneurs continue to generate the majority of their revenues in the domestic market, where 254.8 billion kuna was achieved in the first six months of this year, accounting for almost 79 percent of total revenues for that period.
Revenues from foreign markets amounted to 42.03 billion kuna, which represents an increase of 13.4 percent compared to the same period last year, slightly higher than the growth of ‘domestic’ revenues, which simultaneously amounted to 12.3 percent. Fina points to a somewhat deteriorated efficiency of Croatian entrepreneurs’ operations in the first half of the year. Namely, an expenditure of 100 kuna of total expenses yielded 105.61 kuna in revenues during that period, compared to 106.92 kuna in the same period last year. The main reason for the deterioration in operational efficiency, according to Fina, is the faster growth of expenses compared to revenue growth due to high price increases. Nevertheless, they also mention other relatively positive results during the same period, such as an increase in the number of employees by 6.1 percent and an increase in investments in fixed assets by 5.7 percent. (H)
