With a year-on-year price increase of 9.4 percent in April, Croatia has reached the ultimate boundary that defines so-called creeping inflation before it transforms into so-called galloping inflation. Why is the former good and the latter bad for the economy? How is inflation calculated at all, and why do some people perceive it as higher while others see it as lower than official data? And, could it happen that Croatia becomes the first country next year where the replacement of the national currency with the euro could occur with at least a slight and sporadic drop in prices? In this week’s topic, Manuela Tašler writes about inflation for beginners.
In Germany, there is currently a round-the-clock brainwashing of citizens about a billion ways to save and reduce costs in absolutely all segments of life – from going to the toilet to opening the refrigerator, shared gym memberships, and yesterday’s lunch with colleagues at work. This is the Germans and their frugality during the corona crisis, which is now reaching its peak in the energy crisis. A quick overview of the numbers shows how dependent the Croatian economy is on the ‘locomotive of Europe’, but this is certainly not an advantage in bad times. The pandemic, and especially the war in Ukraine, have brought the largest economy in Europe to the brink of recession, and this will certainly be felt in Croatia. In other words, maybe it’s time to stop putting all our eggs in the (German) basket. Željka Laslavić writes about Croatia’s dependence on Germany.
