With a GDP growth of 3.9 percent, the highest in the EU, we are becoming a small economic miracle. After six years of pulling out of recession during the last financial crisis, when our GDP cumulatively fell by about 11 percent, the growth of the Croatian post-pandemic economy shows a resilient resistance to all crises and wars. Croatia has thus experienced the fastest pace of income convergence in the EU since 2019 (we are now at 76 percent of the EU average). This is significantly reflected in the confidence in living standards and purchasing power, as evidenced by data on retail trade/personal consumption – in May, it was 8.4 percent higher compared to last May, which is yet another European record.
An analysis by the consulting and marketing firm Valicon shows that a very good consumer mood prevails throughout the Adria region. This is best seen from the surveyed data on how many believe that the financial situation in the country has worsened. The percentage of concerned individuals in the entire region is decreasing; for example, in Slovenia, it is 21 percent compared to 24 percent in the previous survey, specifically in the second quarter of this year compared to the same period last year. In Croatia, 17 percent of citizens believe that the situation is worsening, but this is 8 percentage points lower than last year. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, 23 percent of citizens think that the financial situation is worse, while last year, 27 percent thought so, but the most optimistic are in Serbia, where the difference is as much as 15 percentage points – last year, 38 percent of respondents were convinced that the financial situation was worsening, this year only 23 percent think so.
