Istria County Presents Its Anti-Recession Measures

Istrian County Prefect Ivan Jakovčić, along with his associates, presented the measures of Istria County for stimulating the economy and employment at today’s press conference in Pula, emphasizing that this is the first package of measures in Croatia in the fight against the recession that has also affected Croatia.

According to Darko Lorencin, a member of the County Executive and director of the Istrian Development Agency (IDA), this package of measures includes the provision of favorable credit resources and additional guarantees for entrepreneurs and craftsmen, support for the tourism sector, and the allocation of an additional 500,000 kuna for the promotion of Istria in the tourism market.

It anticipates support for the agricultural sector by reducing the interest rate on all loans from the Agricultural Development Fund from five to four percent. Furthermore, the package of measures relates to support for the fishing sector by co-financing additional equipment in the amount of 500,000 kuna to increase competitiveness, support for the agro-tourism development program by securing 100,000 kuna for promotion, and the freezing of prices for communal services and other fees under the jurisdiction of local government units, as well as additional competitiveness enhancement in the form of free education and retraining, securing licenses for farmers and entrepreneurs, and more.

These measures are expected to facilitate the functioning and operation of the economy under these challenging conditions. Istrian County Prefect Ivan Jakovčić expressed concern for the state of the economy, highlighting that Istria County wants to act concretely and be sensitive to the problems of citizens as well as the entire economy. “This package of measures is the first of its kind in Croatia. We will monitor the development of the situation and, if necessary, adopt a second package of measures because by directly injecting more favorable money, we are actually strengthening the competitiveness of the economy, that is, we are doing everything to ensure its survival with the ambition to grow,” said Prefect Jakovčić.

He added that the public sector does not want to be a burden on the economy in any way and, in this context, stated that an agreement has been reached with all Istrian mayors, who are otherwise on the supervisory boards of communal companies, to freeze all prices of communal services and all administrative costs at all levels. “By the end of our mandate, we will most likely go for a budget rebalancing, especially if we assess that it is necessary for the stability of the economy and the safety of our citizens,” concluded the Istrian prefect. He added that these measures are temporary, but he believes that if the situation does not improve, they will last a very long time.

“We want to believe that the global economic crisis will be overcome. Therefore, these measures will remain in force until there is a clear assessment from the economy and experts that the recession is behind us,” said Jakovčić. According to him, the government should also come up with concrete measures to assist large economic entities. “I expect that the government will finally realize that the role of counties and cities in combating the recession is enormous and that this country needs to be finally decentralized so that the county can help the economy and citizens even more,” said Ivan Jakovčić. (H)