The parliament on Friday passed by a majority vote a revised budget for 2022, whereby the expenditure side will increase by 10.9 billion kuna to 184.7 billion kuna and the revenues will go up by 6.6 billion kuna to 171 billion kuna.

As a result, this year’s budget deficit will widen from the initial projections of 2.6% of the GDP to the deficit-to-GDP ratio of 2.8%.

Most of the rejigged budget outlays refer to the health system, in the amount of 4 billion kuna, of which the largest share will be used to cover hospitals’ and pharmacies’ debt to suppliers.

The opposition MPs who voted against the budget revision criticised the proposal as bad.

In mid-may, the Fiscal Policy Commission said that it believed that the proposed 2022 budget revision was appropriate to the current circumstances however, this independent body underscores that it is necessary for Croatia to absorb more EU funds to fund investments and schemes to boost productivity and implement cost-cutting reforms.

In a press release released on 17 May, the commission underscored the need to implement reforms to limit expenditure for healthcare, pensions and unemployment benefits.

Also today, the parliament passed a law on registry of persons with disabilities.

The legislation on investment stimulation was today endorsed, providing for some additional benefits for users of state subsidies for investments in the event when their projects are affected by extraordinary circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

(€1 = 7.52 kuna)