It is premature to underestimate the potential effects of American tariffs, and we must consider both the best and worst possible options in the current situation, said Minister of Finance Marko Primorac in a packed hall at Lider’s Financial Forum. He believes that the direct impact of American tariffs on Croatia will be limited, while potential effects for Croatia could only be present if the EU were to impose similar tariffs on the USA.
– We have a limited range and number of products that we import from the USA, so the introduction of tariffs would not have a significant impact on Croatian citizens – said the minister, who added that there are a whole range of justified views and positions at this moment, but that spreading panic is unnecessary because Croatia is fiscally stable and, as he said, ‘we need to take a step back and send calming messages first’, and then if necessary, the European Union will send its response, and then potentially individual member states.
The Minister of Finance commented on tariffs at the end of his presentation at the Financial Forum, where he focused on the Croatian capital market and the Strategic Framework for the Development of the Capital Market. However, he also touched on the general economic situation.
– It is important to remind that within European frameworks, Croatia is a country that has significant economic growth that is several times higher than the EU and Eurozone average. In the medium term we can be a bit calmer than other member states – stated the minister.
The minister emphasized that Croatia can be satisfied with the results it has achieved in recent years, as well as the forecasts for this year. The government has made efforts, he says, to maintain financial stability and to ensure that in years of strong economic growth, it pays attention to public debt, which they have reduced more than they expected, so we ended 2024 with 57.4 percent of public debt to GDP, which exceeded previous expectations.
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Primorac also noted that despite challenging times, it is necessary to maintain calmness, rationality, and even optimism, and speaking about the capital market, he said that ‘our ambition to improve the capital market must not leave us despite these challenging times’.
The minister then highlighted the challenges for the further development of the capital market that have been identified as key by the government. These include a lack of liquidity in the capital market, financial literacy, insufficient supply of innovative and sustainable financial sectors, limited access for companies to investors, a lack of supply of securities, and the fragmentation of market infrastructure in the region.
Primorac reminded that the state has already taken measures to encourage market activity, highlighting that they have recorded about 270 thousand offers of government securities amounting to over eight billion euros, which ultimately secured 300 million euros in interest for citizens. Of course, there are also treasury bills, and what they claim to be particularly proud of is the ‘state fintech’, or the e-treasury system. Additionally, it is worth noting that over 48 thousand citizens have opened accounts in SKDD and hold seven percent of public debt.
The minister then added that a series of activities are underway to fulfill a total of five strategic goals: regional integration, improvement of corporate governance, enhancement of liquidity, digitalization of the capital market, and the development of new investment instruments and financing methods.
He placed special emphasis on regional integration, which, as he said, would significantly ease the path to emerging market classification. This classification, according to the minister, would make Croatia more attractive to foreign investors.
– Thanks to the integrations that have already occurred in the markets, we see that it is possible to implement this and contribute to the overall development of the capital market – stated the minister.
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