The Croatian gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of this year was realy lower by 2.5 percent compared to the same period last year, announced today the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, thus confirming its previously published first estimate.
The second quarter of this year is the sixth consecutive quarter in which Croatia records a decline in quarterly GDP on a year-on-year basis, and the decline rate of 2.5 percent is the same as in the first quarter of this year. As in the previous five quarters, the decline in GDP in the second quarter of this year was most influenced by the decline in personal consumption and the decline in gross investments in fixed capital. Household consumption expenditures, the largest category in GDP, fell by 2.5 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the second quarter last year. This is a slowdown in the decline of personal consumption considering that in the first quarter of this year the decline was 4.1 percent and also the lowest decline rate since the fourth quarter of 2008 when the decline in personal consumption has been recorded. Gross investments in fixed capital in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year decreased by 13.4 percent, which is just slightly lower than the decline rate in the first quarter when it was 13.9 percent.
State consumption expenditures in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same period last year fell by 1.8 percent, which is a higher decline rate than in the first quarter when it was 1.1 percent. Exports of goods and services, on the other hand, increased by 7.0 percent in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, while imports of goods and services decreased by 4.2 percent. Statistics record growth in exports of goods and services for the second consecutive quarter, and this growth accelerated compared to the first quarter of this year when exports increased by 3.6 percent compared to the first quarter last year. At the same time, imports have recorded a decline for the seventh consecutive quarter, but at a lower rate than in the first quarter (when it was 4.8 percent). According to the Croatian Bureau of Statistics, gross value added (GVA) in the second quarter of 2010 compared to the same quarter of the previous year was realy lower by 3.0 percent. All sectors of activity, except for financial intermediation, recorded a decline, with the largest decline in gross value added recorded in construction, by 16.8 percent compared to the second quarter last year. In hotels and restaurants, the statistics recorded a decline in gross value added of 4.3 percent, in transport, storage and communications a decline of 4.0 percent, in wholesale and retail trade a decline of 3.8 percent, in mining and quarrying a decline of 3.4 percent, in agriculture, hunting, forestry and fishing a decline of 0.4 percent, while the decline in public administration and defense, social security, personal services and household activities amounted to 0.3 percent. The only sector in which growth in gross value added was recorded in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year, by 0.4 percent, is financial intermediation, real estate activities and business services. (H)
