Croatia's GDP contracted by a record 8.4 percent in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, with the decline slowing down in the last quarter compared to the previous quarters of the year, the state statistics bureau (DZS) reported on Friday.

GDP plummeted by 7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2020 on the year. However, the decline was slightly lower than forecast by analysts.

Six analysts polled by Croatian state news agency Hina had projected the Q4 GDP decline at 7.3 percent, with estimates ranging from 6.5 to 8.3 percent.

It was the third quarter in a row that GDP had fallen on the year, resulting from restrictive measures aimed at curbing the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the drop in Q4 was smaller than in the preceding quarters. GDP contracted by 15.4 percent in Q2, the biggest drop since 1995 when DZS started tracking such data, while dropped by 10 percent in Q3.

GDP contracted by a record 8.4 percent for the entire year.

Before that, the record fall of 7.3 percent was recorded at the start of the 2009 global financial crisis.