The lower than expected GDP growth estimates for Q4 2017 released earlier this week did not reflect negatively on Croatia's government budget, Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Thursday (March 1).

According to preliminary estimates by the state statistics bureau, GDP growth in the last three months of 2017 was 2 percent year-on-year, with the entire 2017 growth at 2.8 percent year-on-year, falling short of analysts’ predictions between 2.1 and 3.2 percent.

Plenkovic said that although the figures are somewhat lower than expected, he added that these are only preliminary estimates, which might be adjusted in the future.

“But in any case, this was not felt on the budget’s revenue. On the contrary, the income was good, and especially the spending, as we have seen in December,” Plenkovic said.