On April 26th 2018, the Croatian government adopted its National reform programme for 2018 and its Convergence programme for the period 2018.-2021. Both programmes will be sent to the European Commission by the end of the month. The National reform programme is based on the goals of the Government programme for the executive term 2016.-2020. It welcomes the specific recommendations of the Council of the European Union, as well as findings of the European Commission presented in its “Country Report Croatia 2018”. The National reform programme contains three main goals: strengthening the competitiveness of the economy, linking the educational sector to the labour market and sustainability of public finances. The programme for 2018 was prepared withthe purpose of dealing with the structural challenges of the Croatian economy. It envisions enacting 59 measures in 11 reforms areas during the following year.
The growth rate presented in the programmes for the year2018 is 2.8%, 2.7% for the year 2019, and 2.5% for both 2020 and 2021. Regarding the state budget, the government is sticking to the projected deficit of 0.5% for the current year, after achieving its first surplus of 0.8% for the year 2017 (2.7 billion HRK). A deficit of 0.4% is projected for next year, followed by a balanced budget (0%) for the year 2020 and a 0.5% surplus in 2021.
More on the presentation of the National reform programme and Convergence programme available at:https://vlada.gov.hr/vijesti/ministar-financija-maric-u-2018-godini-predvidjamo-rast-bdp-a-od-2-8-posto-i-daljnje-smanjenje-javnog-duga/23778
