January 9 (SeeNews) - Croatia has absorbed just under 2 billion euro ($2.1 billion) in EU funds, or 19% of the total funds made available to the country, since joining the bloc in 2013, local media reported on Monday.
In 2016 alone, the country absorbed nearly twice as much as in 2015, mainly due to a lager number of tenders and stronger administrative capacities in EU fund management, news agency Hina reported citing data from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK).
Croatia absorbed 584 million euro from the EU budget in 2014, 556 million euro in 2015 and an estimated 850 million in 2016 euro, HGK noted.
Low absorption rates in the past years reflect the uneven quality of project proposals, lack of staff in relevant bodies and frequent changes to the required tender documents, Hina added.
HGK is optimistic that EU funds absorption will grow further in 2017.
($=0.9488 euro)