Chief economists of major Croatian banks project that the country's GDP growth will be 5.9 percent in 2022, before slowing down to 1.3 percent in 2023. Meanwhile, real investments are expected to continue growing at a rate of around 6 percent, the state news platform Hina said on Tuesday in their summary of a report released by the local banking association Hub.

“Real investments are expected to continue at a relatively high rate of around 6 percent, while Croatia’s membership in the euro zone and the Schengen Area, and a ‘more significant use of EU funds’ could alleviate recessionary pressures in Croatia next year,” Hina cited the survey’s summary.

The previous Hub report was published in June when the threat of war in Ukraine and the energy crisis seemed more dangerous than it later turned out to be. The chief economists of Croatian banks then expected real GDP to grow at a rate of 3.7 percent this year and to slow down slightly in 2023, to 3.2 percent.

“Meanwhile, economic growth in 2022 has exceeded expectations, so economists have now firmly centered the expected growth rate for 2022 at 5.9 percent, with a very narrow range of differences between the biggest pessimist and the biggest optimist, ranging from 5.8 percent to 6.0 percent,” Hina cited Hub’s unsigned statement.

Next year, however, looks significantly different, with a projected growth rate of only 1.3 percent and a wider range of expectations of the four main economists – from 1.0 percent to 1.8 percent.