Professor and former Minister of Economy Ljubo Jurcic was a guest on N1 Studio Live with Igor Bobic, where he spoke about demographics and the economic situation in Croatia.

The government has presented its first package of demographic measures and Jurcic considers it positive that discussions on the topic have begun.

The worst situation in Croatian history

“Demography is almost like maths; it’s about averages. At the moment we are losing population, and if we look at which population we are losing, it is the young people. They are the reproductive force that should have children. We are losing the base,” Jurcic said.

Demographic processes are very slow by nature, he emphasised.

“We are in a situation where more people are dying than are being born. This is the worst situation in Croatian history,” said Jurcic, adding that about 20 years ago, around 50,000 children were born annually, while today there are only 30,000.

Jurcic emphasised that the constant in all migrations is the pursuit of a better life.

“To stop the exodus of our population, we need a policy that creates jobs in Croatia,” he said, adding that Croatia has tried several times to pursue an industrial policy, but the results have always been poor.

Credit ratings irrelevant for standard of living

He also commented on the country’s credit rating.

“The credit rating has nothing to do with the standard of living. It has no meaning for the average citizen and will have absolutely no impact on the Croatian economy,” he said.

Jurcic addressed the controversial statement by Economy Minister Ante Susnjar, who had suggested that citizens should bake their own bread if it was too expensive to buy.

“That was a clumsy statement. If we look at the Croatian government, it is probably good at diplomacy and is now making better use of EU funds. However, the government should focus more than 90 per cent on boosting domestic production. If you look at the government’s actions, even in the economic field, it is mainly focussing on social issues,” said Jurcic.

Regarding the role of the minister, he added: “What the Minister of Economy has said is not his domain. It is no wonder that he made such a statement. His job is to talk about industrial development and creating better jobs. This kind of statement may come from someone on the sidelines, but it’s not a message the economy minister should be delivering.”