The Bridge (MOST) opposition party accused the Andrej Plenkovic cabinet on Saturday of squandering taxpayers' money as budget expenditures grew faster than the economy.

Nearly all macroeconomists say that, due to the high public debt, the budget’s expenditures side must be put under control, the party said in a press release, adding that it was unacceptable that expenditures were rising 5.2 percent without any strategy and that GDP growth was projected at only 2.8 percent.

It is absurd that the population is drastically decreasing yet the budget is increasing uncontrollably, Bridge said, adding that when it had been part of the government, it started a trend of rational budget management, yet now the ruling HDZ and its new coalition partners were squandering money again. “Mr Plenkovic, you are pumping the budget without any strategic goal, which will hit us in the head like a boomerang.”

Bridge said Croatia’s GDP growth lagged behind comparable countries, pushing it to the very bottom of the European Union. In September, industrial production fell 1.5 percent on the month and decreased over nine months this year, it added.

Salary growth in 2019 will total only HRK 1.1 billion (EUR 148 million) at a time when 180 are leaving Croatia on a daily basis, which is a glaring example of irresponsibility towards taxpayers’ money, said Bridge, wondering who would generate that amount and make up for the huge difference between revenues and expenditures.

In the best case scenario, tourism results for this year will be stable and nights in the peak seasons will drop 3% on the year, Bridge said.

Enterprise will hardly pull us through with the structural workforce deficit, to which the government is not offering any solutions, and a new entrepreneur must pay HRK 22,824 (Some EUR 3,000) in annual contributions even before opening a business, the party said.

(EUR 1 = HRK 7.43)

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