HUP: 40th place is a good result on a global scale, but not in European terms

The Chief Executive Officer of the Croatian Employers’ Association (HUP), Davor Majetić, stated today that Croatia’s 40th place on the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business ranking is a good result on a global scale, but not at the European level.

– Fortieth place is certainly a good position in itself, considering that it is a world ranking list. However, we can still be somewhat concerned that we are still at the bottom compared to European countries – said Majetić.

He also added that “what is not particularly encouraging is that we were 39th last year if we apply the same methodology, which is a sign that we have not changed much in the last year, and we know that we have many challenges in the economy and that we need to change.”

– This is also shown by the World Economic Forum (WEF) report for this year, according to which the Croatian economy stagnates at 77th place on the competitiveness list among 140 countries, and this is a sign that, despite this relatively high position on the Ease of Doing Business list, we have a lot of work ahead of us – said Majetić.

At the same time, he adds, it is concerning that Croatia is so high on the Doing Business ranking, “and our economy is not growing faster, which means that there are still many problems we need to solve.” He emphasized that a more detailed insight into the World Bank report shows that the greatest progress has been made in areas where new technologies have been used, namely in sectors that have been computerized.

– Some of the good positions we have on the list are digital tools, such as e-file, as well as the judiciary, which is being computerized, although we would like to see this reflected in the actual state of legal security, but it is a good start. Digitally, land registries are also being resolved, which means that with digital tools we can relatively quickly become better, more competitive, and we hope much more attractive for investments, investors, and business ventures.  The digital economy is the economy of the future, and by using these tools we can advance much faster and be more transparent, simpler, and thus more competitive – said Majetić.