– We have frozen the budget and will continue with strict cost control – said Zdravko Marić on Friday at the opening of the conference on the role and functioning of the public sector organized by the Institute of Public Finance, held at the International Hotel in Zagreb.
The recently former, but almost certainly future Minister of Finance, expressed his pleasure at having the opportunity to speak about the challenges for public finances, noting that all figures are better than last year, and that we will have a budget surplus of at least one percent of GDP.
– This year there will be no changes in the tax system as we want to take the time for a careful assessment of the impact of all measures, whether it is VAT, income tax… I advocate that tax reform begins at the start of 2017 – said Marić.
He claims that this year’s GDP will be higher than previous estimates – from 2.5 to 3 percent. On the other hand, he says, public debt remains a key issue, and its reduction will be based on three pillars. These are GDP growth, fiscal consolidation, and reactivation of state assets. When it comes to the latter, Marić notes that the state has a thousand properties, including resorts, hotels, and former military estates waiting for reactivation.
