April 27 (SeeNews) - The Croatian government expects inflation to slow down to 6.6% this year, to 2.8% in 2024, 2.4% in 2025 and 2.2% in 2026, prime minister Andrej Plenkovic said.
The government also has improved its real economic growth projection for this year by 1.5 percentage points to 2.2%, and expects economic growth rates of 2.6% in 2024, 2.5% in 2025 and 2.2% in 2026, Plenkovic told a weekly cabinet meeting as seen in a video recording published on the government’s website.
In October, the government published its 2023 budget draft, projecting 0.7% GDP growth and 5.7% inflation.
Croatia's consumer prices rose by an annual average of 10.8% last year, while the country’s real economic growth amounted to 6.3%, according to previously disclosed data.
Following a consolidated general government surplus of 0.4% in 2022, the general government deficit is expected at 0.7% of GDP this year, 1.5% in 2024, 0.8% in 2025, and 0.6% in 2026, according to government projections, finance minister Marko Primorac added.
The public debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline further to 62.6% of GDP in 2023, 59.8% next year, 57.5% in 2025 and 55.6% in 2026. In 2022, the ratio fell by 10 percentage points to 68.4% of GDP.