Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic commented the recent data on the 2.7 billion kuna budget surplus and public debt released by the state statistics bureau on Friday.

“Today we received official confirmation of what we have announced earlier, namely that in 2017 we had a great result in public finances, and that for the first time Croatia earned more than it had spent,” Plenkovic said in a government press release.

Croatia’s 2017 budget surplus was the very first surplus since records began in 2002.

Plenkovic reported that the surplus was 2.75 billion kuna (€371 million), or 0.8 percent of the country’s GDP.

“This result is above expectations, but entirely in line with our responsible management of fiscal policy,” Plenkovic boasted.

“In 2016 we had a deficit which amounted to 3.27 billion kuna, and in 2015 the deficit was 11.69 billion kuna,” Plenkovic said.

This means that the 2017 surplus has reduced the average debt per capita by about 780 kuna. In comparison, the 2015 deficit increased the average debt per capita by 2,800 kuna, and in 2016 by additional 655 kuna.

Plenkovic added that this result also affected the reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio, which was 78 percent at the end of 2017, down from 81 percent in 2016 and almost 6 percentage points down from 2015.

The figures confirm that the government’s policies are determined in achieving one of its strategic goals, which is the consolidation of public finances and the reduction of public debt, which was also confirmed in Croatia’s 2017 exit from the excessive deficit procedure.

Plenkovic also added that the government’s efforts have been recognised by international financial institutions and rating agencies, which resulted in the nation’s first credit rating upgrade since 2004.

(€1 = 7.41 kuna)

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