April 27 (SeeNews) - Croatia's government expects the country's gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by 3% real this year amidst soaring energy prices and global inflationary trends, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Wednesday.
After a very good recovery of Croatia's economy and a growth of 10.2% last year, in the new circumstances, according to new estimates a real GDP growth of 3% is expected this year, to be followed by economic expansion of 4.4% in 2023, 2.7% in 2024 and 2.5% in 2025, Plenkovic said in a press release.
“We will continue with the policy of responsible management of public finances, with gradual reduction of budget deficit, with slashing of public debt which we expect to reach 76.2% of GDP this year,” he added. Last year, Croatia's public debt stood at 79.8% of GDP.
According to the government's 2023-2025 convergence programme, an average annual consumer price inflation 7.8% is expected this year and 3.7% next year, after 2.6% inflation in 2021. The general government budget deficit is forecast to fall to 2.8% in 2022 and 1.6% in 2023, from 2.9% last year.
The government also approved on Wednesday the final draft of the law on euro adoption and sent it to the parliament for approval. Croatia aims to adopt the euro as of January 1, 2023.