In March 2019, the average net monthly salary in Croatia was 6,464 kuna (€874), the state statistics bureau said, nominally up 3.4 percent year-on-year, or 2.5 percent in real terms, adjusted for inflation.

The rise continues the trend which has been going on since 2015, when the current methodology, which relies on tax return forms, was adopted.

The average gross salary in the same period was 8,778 kuna (€1,186), 3.7 percent up year-on-year, or 2.8 percent in real terms. This again continues the trend of gross salaries rising faster than net incomes.

Commenting on these figures, Raiffeisenbank (RBA) analysts said that further salary growth is likely to be helped by new tax regulations which came into force in January which eased income tax for high earners by expanding the 24 percent tax bracket to 30,000 kuna (€4,000) gross, as well as easing contributions paid by employers by 0.7 percent.

Other factors which are likely to put upward pressure on salaries are the raising of gross minimum wage to 3,750 kuna (€500), as well as the chronic lack of qualified labour in a number of sectors of the economy.

(€1 = 7.40 kuna)