April 14 (SeeNews) - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Tuesday it expects the Croatian economy to shrink 9% this year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
The economy of the tourism-reliant Adriatic state is then expected to rebound, recording a 4.9% growth in 2021, the IMF said in its latest World Economic Outlook report.
In February, prior to the coronavirus outbreak, the Fund affirmed its previous forecast for Croatia's GDP growth this year at 2.7%, while increasing to 2.5% from the previous 2.0% its forecast for the country's 2021 economic expansion.
On Tuesday, the IMF also said it expects Croatia's unemployment rate to climb to 11.5% this year from last year's 7.8%, before retreating to 8.0% in 2021.
The average consumer price inflation is seen quickening to 1.3% this year from 0.8% in 2019, and slowing down a tad to 1.2% next year.
At the same time, Croatia's current account balance will turn to a 4.0% of GDP gap in 2020 from the 2.9% of GDP surplus recorded last year. The deficit is then seen shrinking to 1.5% of GDP in 2021, the IMF said.