Despite some progress in recent years, Croatia is still not an entrepreneurial country, among the worst in the EU in terms of the business environment, and for the situation to improve it is necessary to change regulations and the education system, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) study for 2017 showed.

The results of the study, which has been conducted annually in Croatia since 2002, were presented by a team of researchers from GEM Croatia and the SMEs and Entrepreneurship Policy Centre (CEPOR) in Zagreb on Friday. Carried out on a sample of 2,000 respondents, the study provides an overview of the business climate, relations, and development.

Only 48 percent of respondents see Croatia as a country with a high entrepreneurship status, below the EU average of 67 percent. Some 33 percent of people in Croatia manage to recognise and seize the right business opportunities, compared to the EU average of 42.6 percent, and only 9 percent of start-ups in Croatia develop and pay wages, said Slavica Singer, head of CEPOR.

“Although Croatian companies are slightly better technically equipped than the EU average, they are slow in developing and launching new product lines. We have very few growing companies that are a source of new employment – only about 20 percent of companies had grown for three consecutive years and the new employment rate was merely 0.73 percent,” Singer said.

Employees, as one of the key factors in measuring business activity, should be given greater attention in the future, as well as be paid more, Singer said, adding that the study showed employees have great potential, knowledge, and will, making Croatia quite strong in relation to the EU in this regard.

The Economy Minister, Martina Dalic, whose ministry financed the study, agreed that entrepreneurship was extremely important for the GDP, employment, growth, and development of both the economy and the society in general, but said that Croatia was not moving forward as fast as it would like.

“The economy and the standard of living which would get us closer to the EU are not growing as fast as we would like, which is why reforms are necessary, because they show that we want to change, and know how to do it,” Dalic said.