Next week, ministers embark on a road show

The government has prepared a ‘road show’ to present measures for encouraging investments and restructuring the economy in five Croatian cities – Split, Osijek, Varaždin, Rijeka, and Zagreb, as announced after today’s government session.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Regional Development and EU Funds Branko Grčić announced that at the ‘road show’, which begins on February 25 in Split, concrete measures taken by the government, HBOR, HAMAG Invest, and other state agencies, as well as opportunities for utilizing EU funds, will be presented to entrepreneurs, representatives of local self-government units, and interested citizens.

They will be presented with the results of pre-bankruptcy settlements so far, which show that by February 18, 3,238 requests for settlements have been received, totaling 32 billion kuna in obligations, and the companies that submitted proposals for initiating pre-bankruptcy settlements employ about 25,000 workers.

Numerous incentives in the Investment Promotion and Improvement of the Investment Environment Act, the Strategic Investment Projects Act, the Entrepreneurial Impulse for 2013, and others will also be presented.

Measures from HBOR will be presented, which last year increased its placements by 3.5 billion kuna, particularly for specific investment projects and exports, as well as the role of HAMAG Invest, which nearly doubled its guarantee capital compared to the previous year, and the number of requests for issuing guarantees increased by 94 percent.

Grčić also boasted that his Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds managed to contract funds amounting to 160 million euros last year, while a total of 250 million euros has been contracted over the past five years.

He added that a bit of luck is also needed for the success of this program, meaning a change in the environment, which signifies a positive economic turnaround in Europe and in the markets of Croatia’s largest economic partners, such as Italy, Austria, Slovenia, and Germany.

Joining the EU should reduce financing costs and increase the availability of capital to the Croatian economy through the liberalization of capital markets, the influx of free transfers from the EU, direct foreign investments, and privatization processes, Grčić said.

Minister of Economy Ivan Vrdoljak dismissed doubts about the government’s unity regarding certain economic policy measures, emphasizing that government homogeneity is a prerequisite for any success.

Different announcements and dissonant tones in the statements of ministers responsible for economic issues arise due to very rapid changes in the economy, both domestic and global, Vrdoljak claims.

Those who do not adapt to these changes quickly enough will not fare well, Vrdoljak warned, citing the example of the twenty-year Croatian ‘tug-of-war’ with shipbuilding, which has been a burden around the state’s neck costing 20 billion kuna.

Grčić warned that investments have fallen by 35 percent in the past four years of crisis, and even more in the private sector, with as many as 100,000 jobs lost in the real sector, while at the same time, 12,000 more people were employed in the public sector.

The government is doing everything to push investments, as they bring jobs, employment, and salaries, and we are removing one obstacle at a time from the path, emphasized Grčić, who says it is ‘a path of deep plowing.’