Vedriš: Croatia is like Dinamo in the Champions League, better than last year but not good enough compared to competitors

The public sector sometimes optimistically announces changes in legislation that are supposed to favor investors, but which too often have little effect, and it is not uncommon for investors to be unaware of certain improvements because they may not have been well communicated.

This is the conclusion of a round table on measuring competitiveness held today organized by the Agency for Investments and Competitiveness (AIK) and the World Bank, in collaboration with the National Council for Competitiveness.

The aim of the round table was to clarify the conditions for Croatia’s rise in global competitiveness rankings, such as the Doing Business index, which was determined for the first time according to some new parameters. Croatia ranked a high 40th out of a total of 189 countries on this list this year.

However, as highlighted, Croatia can and must do better than that. Mladen Vedriš from the Faculty of Law compared our business status to Dinamo.

– Although it has a better team and better results than last year, that club still cannot compete with top Bayern in the Champions League, and so is Croatia, better on the list, but not good enough compared to other countries that implement changes faster and more efficiently – concluded Vedriš.

Damir Novinić, director of AIK, says that a lot has been done in the last three years to improve the business climate in Croatia, as well as to facilitate investments. However, he claims the problem lies in the poor communication of these changes.

– Who in Croatia is currently aware that every investor who invests in a specific project over 15 million euros is guaranteed an unchanged tax rate for the next 10 years – asked Novinić, while honestly admitting that changes must not stop.

Sanja Madžarević-Šujster, senior economist at the World Bank for Croatia, acknowledges that Croatia has improved certain indicators, trade disputes have been expedited, minority investors are better protected, but there is still room for improvement in the investment climate.

– This primarily relates to reforms in public administration and the judiciary – concluded Madžarević-Šujster.