These Companies Receive Grants for Retaining and Increasing Employment

A total of 92 companies will receive grants from the Operational Program for Capital Investments to retain and increase the number of employees, with the value of this program being 90.5 million kuna.

– The Operational Program for 2015, which supports industrial development, will create 1,200 jobs and achieve total investments in Croatian industry of 350 million kuna,” estimates the Ministry in a statement published on its website on Friday.

The Ministry also announces that the signing of contracts with the companies that are grant recipients from the Operational Program will begin on Monday, September 21, with the first contracts to be signed in Međimurje County.

As emphasized in the statement, the Operational Program of the Ministry of Economy is one of the key measures for the implementation of the Industrial Strategy in 2015, and the main goal of the program is to contribute to the growth of investments and the retention and increase of employment.

The maximum amount of grant that an entrepreneur could receive for their project was two million kuna.

According to data on the results of the Operational Program, the lowest approved grant amount is 18,500 kuna, which was received by Narodne novine, while ten companies will receive the maximum amount of two million kuna – Cedevita, Cemex Hrvatska from Kaštel Sućurac, Zagreb companies Delt papir and Metal Product, Metalska industrija Varaždin, Sisak’s Nil-Ž, Pliva, Predionica Klanjec, Zagreb’s Tiskara Reprint, and Vivera from Glina.

The purpose of the grants is to invest in tangible assets, namely the purchase of machinery and equipment that will contribute to technological renewal, modernization, and expansion of the product range. Costs of intangible assets are eligible only up to a limit of 25 percent of total eligible investment costs and only if they are incurred as directly related costs of investment in tangible assets, the Ministry notes.

They also state that the realization of previous support programs for projects in the industry for 2013 and 2014, especially in the processing industry which has the greatest impact on the economy, has opened nearly 3,000 new jobs.

– The primary goal was to direct 250 million kuna to projects that can ensure an increase in gross added value, the number of employees as a consequence of investment, and the share of exports in total revenues, the Ministry states.