In the first nine months, public procurements were valued at around 12 billion kuna, while last year they amounted to as much as 44.9 billion kuna. The data was presented at an economists’ conference in Opatija by the State Secretary for Public Procurement, Tamara Obradović Mazal, who believes that both the economic and financial crisis are responsible for the decline.
Slovenian economic expert Jože Mencinger described Slovenia’s role in the global financial crisis as almost completely passive, as more important powers have been transferred to the European Commission and the European Central Bank. „In our case, the crisis does not come through finance but through the real sector, as we are closely tied to the EU. I am not an optimist and I fear that economic growth in Slovenia will be negative“, said Mencinger, adding that Slovenia, unlike Croatia, opted for a progressive fiscal policy.
The CEO of INA, Tomislav Dragičević, reflected on the energy strategy and supported the idea of building coal-fired power plants and a nuclear power plant, while gas should be used to a lesser extent in urban power plants. In the coming year, Dragičević expects the price of oil to fluctuate between 50 and 70 dollars per barrel. He also reminded of the smart card project for blue diesel, which is expected to be introduced from January 2009 and will reduce INA’s costs. The second day of the Croatian economists’ conference appropriately concluded with a lecture on the importance of older people as consumers. (Hrvoje Mateljić)
