December 28 (SeeNews) - Croatia's economy is estimated to have expanded by 13.8% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, following a 15.8% annual increase in the third quarter, the Institute of Economics Zagreb (EIZ), a local think-tank, said.
Economic activity measured by the annual growth rate of GDP in the fourth quarter compared to the same quarter of last year still marks a double-digit growth, just like in the second and third quarter of 2021, EIZ said in a statement last week.
Croatia's economic output rose by 16.5% in the second quarter of this year and declined by 0.6% in the first quarter on the year. Last year, it contracted by 8.4%.
The estimates are based on the EIZ Coincident Economic Index (CEIZ) for October, when it rose 4.84 percentage points compared to October 2020 and declined by 0.74 percentage points compared to September 2021.
Increases were registered in all four components of the index in October compared to the same month of 2020: VAT revenue, volume of industrial production, retail trade and tourist arrivals.
Compared to September, the value of all components of the index went down in October in seasonally adjusted terms.
To have a more precise estimate of the GDP growth rate in the fourth quarter, it is necessary to wait for release of the value of the CEIZ index for November and December, EIZ said.
Earlier this month, Croatia's central bank increased its forecast for the country's economic growth in 2021 to 10.8% from 8.5% predicted in September.