Croatia's GDP shrinks 10 percent in Q3 2020

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Croatia's GDP shrank 10.0 percent year-on-year in Q3 2020, the state staistics bureau said on Friday, attributing the drop do heavily slashed personal spending amid the coronavirus pandemic. However, the contraction is lower than the record-high 15.4 percent drop posted in Q2 2020 at the time of the first pandemic lockdown.

The 10.0 percent GDP drop in real terms is the second largest drop since 1995, when quarterly estimates were introduced.

The drop is mainly attributed to lower spending in the period from July to September this year, as household spending fell by 7.5 percent year-on-year.

Gross fixed capital investments fell by 3 percent. Exports fell 32.3 percent year-on-year overall – and while exports of goods fell by only 3 percent, exports of services plummeted by 45.3 percent.

Imports shrank 14.1 percent, with imports of goods dropping by 9.9 percent, and imports of services by 33.3 percent.

The only item tracked which increased in Q3 2020 was government spending, which inched up 1. percent  year-on-year.

According to seasonally adjusted data, GDP increased by 6.9 percent in Q3 2010 quarter-on-quarter.

Compared to average GDP figures for EU 27, Croatia had fared poorly over the same period. According to EU’s statistics service Eurostat, the bloc’s total GDP in Q3 2020 increased 11.6 percent quarter-on-quarter but shrank 4.3 percent compared to Q3 2019.