Inflation is taxation without accompanying legislation. Salaries are also an expense, reflected on the liabilities side of the company’s balance sheet. With two rising costs, owners and managers are indeed not operating in the brightest moment in history. On the other hand, the older among us, those who remember not only galloping inflation but also the inflationary spiral, which most of today’s younger generation economists know only from textbooks, understand how dangerous the issue of salary growth during inflation is. Currently, salaries are indeed in real decline, as they are growing slower than inflation in both the private and public sectors. Although we are hanging on the brink of recession, which has proven to be an excellent (perhaps the only) weapon in the fight against inflation, the entire western Europe is facing a problem that is far more problematic in the long run – a shortage of people. And when there are no people, thus, in economic terms (to put it bluntly) – goods, their prices rise. At least that’s what classical economics says. Gordana Gelenčer conducted a sort of survey among companies of all sizes to find out the trend of salary movements during inflation, a shortage of people, and perhaps an impending recession.
Strategic buyers and potent private equity investors, especially opportunity hunters from the USA, could take advantage of the current market conditions to acquire European companies that have always been interesting to them due to the strong US dollar. Croatia, as the most visited tourist market in Central and Eastern Europe with the highest share of tourism revenue in GDP, could be very attractive to them. Why Americans could be the main buyers on the Adriatic next year is revealed in the Business Knowledge section.
The regional leader in freight transport and logistics, Liburnia grupa from Rijeka, will soon host a major expert in maritime transport, Yorck Niclas Prehm, who will give a lecture on the latest trends in the industry at its New Year’s celebration. Prehm is a long-time maritime enthusiast, analyst, and expert in the transport of general and heavy cargo. Three years ago, he joined the German company Toepfer Transport GmbH as the head of the Research Department and is responsible for publishing many European and global analyses and indexations in maritime traffic. Toepfer Transport, based in Hamburg, is a company with a long tradition, a sort of boutique shipbroker with branches in Shanghai, Seoul, and Singapore, and its core business is expert consulting in the sale and purchase of ships, contracting new builds, research, as well as evaluations and financing of ships. Prehm’s research department publishes various publications, as well as custom reports, tailored to current market events. Željka Laslavić spoke with Prehm.
