August 2 (SeeNews) - Croatia's economy expanded by an estimated 6.8 % year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, following 7% growth in the first quarter and a 16.4% annual expansion in the second quarter of last year, the Institute of Economics Zagreb (EIZ), a local think-tank, said.
The economic activity measured by quarterly GDP change rates is accelerating in the second quarter of 2022 compared to the same period last year, mainly due to positive index movements in April 2022, the EIZ said in a press release on Monday.
The EIZ's estimates are based on the EIZ Coincident Economic Index (CEIZ) for May, when the index value recorded a drop of 4.9 index points compared to the same month in 2021. The index value slightly decreased by 0.36 index points compared to the previous month.
When observing individual index components, three of them (real retail trade, the number of tourist arrivals, and VAT revenue) recorded higher seasonally adjusted value in May compared to April, with annual growth rates ranging from 4.3% (real retail trade) and 202% (tourist arrivals). Volume of industrial production index recorded a lower seasonally adjusted value in May.
The institute will release a more precise forecast for the economic activity in the second quarter of 2022 when CEIZ index value for June becomes available.
The Croatian Bureau of Statistics will publish its first estimate on the GDP growth in the second quarter on August 26.
Croatia's economic output grew by a real 10.2% in 2021, after a contraction of 8.4% in 2020.