Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said at the cabinet meeting on Thursday that he expects price growth to moderate and inflation to recede.

According to the inflation data published on Wednesday, annual inflation in January in Croatia was 12.7 percent, and compared to December, prices remained the same on average.

“After it was over 13 percent in October, November and December, inflation is now at 12.7 percent on an annual basis. This is a slowing down of the annual inflation rate and that is good news for us,” Plenkovic said.

“This is already the second month in which we have a reversed trend – from growth to reduction, and in the context of price rounding and unjustified price increases at the time of the changeover to the euro, it seems that thanks to the conclusion of the Croatian government and the activities we have undertaken, the inflationary pressure has been reduced, which we consider extremely good,” he added.

He noted that four eurozone countries have a higher inflation rate than Croatia – Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. In seven countries the rate is above ten percent, and the eurozone average is 8.5 percent.

He recalled that the European Commission projected for the year 2023 that inflation will slow down to 6.5 percent on an annual basis, while the Croatian government’s forecast is slightly below six percent.

Regarding the European Commission’s data on the business climate, he said that Croatia is currently in first place, which is a good message.

He also said that the public consultation on the reconstruction law after the earthquake, which aims to simplify procedures and reduce the number of necessary documents, has been completed.

For the next week, he announced the presentation of the housing care plan for people from the areas affected by the earthquake in Banija, who are in temporary accommodation.