May 17 (SeeNews) - Croatia's consolidated general government budget was in surplus equivalent to 0.5% of GDP in 2018, finance minister Zdravko Maric has said.
Last year's surplus exceeded 2.0 billion kuna ($301 million/269 million euro), Maric was quoted as saying in a government press release published on Thursday after the regular cabinet meeting.
2018 was the second straight year in which Croatia had posted a consolidated general government surplus. In 2017, Croatia booked a consolidated general government surplus of 2.75 billion kuna, or 0.8% of GDP, after posting deficits for 26 years.
Maric said that despite the fact that state guarantees worth 2.54 billion kuna were paid on behalf of troubled shipbuilding group Uljanik at the end of last year, the general government still showed a 758 million kuna surplus, or 0.2% of GDP, estimated according to the European Union's ESA 2010 methodology.
Croatia's public debt-to-GDP ratio fell by 2.3 percentage points last year to 74.6%, Maric said.
"If we consider the last three years, we have cut the public debt by nearly 10 percentage points," he noted.
For 2019, the government plans a budget deficit of 1.7 billion kuna, equivalent to 0.4% of GDP. The 2019 budget bill is built on projections of economic growth of 2.9% and targets revenues of 136.1 billion kuna and expenses of 140.3 billion kuna.
The European Commission said earlier this month that it has lowered its forecast for Croatia's economic growth in 2019 to 2.6% from 2.7% predicted in February, with private consumption expected to remain the main growth driver.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development affirmed earlier this month its November forecast for Croatia's 2019 economic growth at 2.5%, considering the country's stronger tourism revenues and faster EU funds absorption.
Last month, the International Monetary Fund confirmed its October projection that Croatia's economy will grow by 2.6% this year.
(1 euro = 7.43053 kuna)