The total number of retail purchase receipts issued last week in Croatia fell by 46 percent year-on-year, and their total value dropped by 30 percent, the national tax authority said on Thursday. The steep declines indicate a sharp drop in consumer spending amid the coronavirus crisis and lockdowns imposed to contain the disease.

Data released by the tax administration – which runs a central registry of all retail receipts issued to customers in Croatia’s stores – showed that in the April 20-26 period Croatians recorded 21.3 million purchases, or 46 percent down compared to same week of 2019. The combined value of these receipts was 2.2 billion kuna (€291 million), or 30 percent down year-on-year.

Apart from the nationwide stay-at-home order and the closure of all non-essential businesses ordered on March 19, the sharp decline is also attributed to the implosion of the local tourism industry which normally relies heavily on foreign visitors and the spring-summer tourist season.

But because of draconian travel bans imposed last month by most European countries, the usual Easter spike in visitors flocking to seaside resorts – traditionally considered the beginning of the tourist season – did not materialise.

Croatia’s tax authority said that the 21.3 million total of receipts issued includes more than half a million receipts in the catering and tourism sectors, a staggering drop of 93 percent year-on-year, with the total value of purchases amounting to 33.7 million kuna (€4.45 million), or 92 percent down from the same week the year before.

In two months since the beginning of the Covid-19 outbreak in Croatia – the period from the first confirmed case on February 24 to April 26 – the overall number of receipts reported issued across all sectors dropped to 36 percent year-on-year (from 382 million to 243 million) while the total value of purchases dropped by 23 percent, from 29.2 billion (€3.8 billion) to 22.6 billion (€3 billion).

Tourism and hospitality services are considered to account for more than 20 percent of Croatia’s GDP, which is is expected to significantly shrink in 2020.

Projections by the World Bank predict a 6.2 contraction, while the International Monetary Fund put the figure at 9 percent – a hit larger than in any other emerging economy of Europe. Croatia’s government forecast the GDP to shrink by 9.4 percent in 2020, before a projected 6.1 percent recovery in 2021.

(€1 = 7.56 kuna)

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