In Q1 2022 Croatia's GDP increased by 7% on the year, going up for the fourth consecutive quarter, which indicates the continuing recovery from the coronavirus crisis, but even though it was strong, the growth was nevertheless slower than in the preceding quarter.

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) on Friday released its first estimate of GDP in Q1 2022, noting that GDP increased by 7% year on year. In Q4 2021 GDP jumped by 9.7%. As a consequence of the coronavirus crisis, GDP in 2020 contracted by about 8% whereas in 2021 it increased by 10.2%, the highest growth rate since the DZS started keeping records on GDP.

The increase in GDP in Q1 is attributed to all the GDP components, from personal and government spending to exports and investments. According to DZS data, household consumption increased by 6.3% in Q1 compared with the same period last year, but growth was slower than in Q4 2021.

The export of goods and services increased by 29.4% on the year, with commodity exports increasing by 29.4% and service exports by 24.5%. The import of goods and services increased 25% year on year, with commodity imports going up 25.2% and the import of services by 22.8%.

Gross investment in fixed capital went up 7.9% on the year, as against 0.8% in Q4 2021. State consumption increased by 5.9% year on year, while in the preceding quarter it increased by more than 14%.

According to seasonally adjusted data, in Q1 2022 GDP went up 6.7% year on year and by 2.7% quarter on quarter.

That is faster growth than the EU average. Eurostat recently reported that according to seasonally adjusted data, the EU GDP in Q1 2022 increased by 0.4% quarter on quarter and by 5.2% year on year.