The minimum monthly net wage will be raised from 2,751 kuna (€370) to 3,000 kuna (€404) in 2019, said Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic during the government cabinet session on Friday.

The decision on the biggest one-off increase in minimum wage since 2008 will come into effect on January 1, 2019.

According to a July’s report by the EU statistics office, Eurostat, the minimum wage in Croatia was higher than in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Romania, Latvia, and Hungary, Plenkovic said, adding that the latest increase would mean Croatia would also surpass the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and Estonia.

“The message this sends is that we want a dignified life for the people with lowest incomes, solidarity is very important for us. According to the ministries’ estimates, around 37 thousand people in Croatia receive the minimum wage,” Plenkovic said.

As the minimum wage is most common in the textile, leather, wood, and metal industries, Plenkovic announced that the base for calculating contributions on the minimum salaries would remain at 50 percent the usual rate in 2019, adding that relief measure would be cut in half by 2020.

Apart from the fiscal relief, a pack of measures for retaining jobs was also prepared, under which employers will be offered support in the amount of 1.5 million kuna (€202,000) in 2019, he said.

(€1 = 7.43 kuna)

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