Milanović: The GDP Decline Will Not Deter Us

Prime Minister Zoran Milanović stated today that he cannot be satisfied with the data from the State Bureau of Statistics regarding the economy’s decline of 1.5 percent in the first quarter, announcing the continuation of fiscal consolidation.

– The decline continues and we cannot be satisfied with that; we must continue with the work we have started and we will not be deterred, regardless of the pressures. Therefore, fiscal consolidation must continue, we cannot spend more than we have, we cannot go into debt. That simply does not hold water – said Milanović at the beginning of today’s Government session.

The State Bureau of Statistics published today the first estimate indicating that the gross domestic product in the first quarter of this year fell by 1.5 percent compared to the same period last year, marking the sixth consecutive quarter of economic weakening.

This is a smaller decline than in the fourth quarter of last year, when GDP slid by 2.3 percent, but larger than expected, as macroeconomists surveyed by Hina estimated on average that GDP would fall by 1.2 percent.

Milanović also dismissed criticisms and comments from some unions, according to which, as he stated, the Government allegedly views people in the public sector and state administration as those who do nothing.

– That is not true and none of us has even thought that, let alone said it, and I ask that this not be manipulated or fabricated – the Prime Minister stated.

He emphasized that within the Government, there are people, the majority of whom have spent their entire careers in public service, except for Minister Ivan Vrdoljak.

– We have worked for a salary, we are not landowners, rentiers, tycoons, or owners of financial capital. We understand very well the world we are dealing with and we have sensitivity for it – said Milanović, emphasizing that, however, ‘there is real and unreal’.

– Therefore, doctors, professors, teachers, all of them are very useful people in this society, but at this moment we do not have a little less than 2 billion kuna and we will not go into debt – concluded the Prime Minister.