Croatian govt sees cons general govt budget surplus rising to 0.8%/GDP in 2022

According to the government plan, the consolidated general government surplus for next year is projected at 0.2% of GDP, to rise to 0.4% of GDP in 2021, Plenkovic said in a statement, after presenting before parliament the government's 2020 budget draft.

The parliament is expected to vote on the proposed budget later this week.

Plenkovic said that the budget plan is based on projections for GDP growth of 2.5% next year and 2.4% in each of 2021 and 2022. The annual inflation rate is expected to remain stable, at below 1.5% in the envisaged period.

The public debt-to-GDP ratio is expected to decline to 61.6% in 2022 from 68.0% in 2020 and 71.6% at the end of 2019, Plenkovic said.

Croatia's public debt stood at 74.8% of GDP at the end of 2018.

The country's consolidated general government budget was in surplus of 992 million kuna ($148 million/133 million euro) at the end of last year, equivalent to 0.3% of GDP, the country's statistical office said last month.

Last year was the second straight year in which Croatia reported a budget surplus. The consolidated general government budget closed 2017 with 2.9 billion kuna surplus, equivalent to 0.8% of GDP.

Regarding the central government budget, it is projected to post a 2.15 billion kuna deficit in 2020, equivalent to 0.5% of GDP, the government said last week. Total central government revenue is planned at 145.1 billion kuna, up 5.4% compared to the revised 2019 budget bill, while total expenditures are projected at 147.3 billion kuna, up 6% on the year.

(1 euro = 7.43262 kuna)