Croatian GDP has managed a small but promising growth in the second quarter of this year, Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor said at a recent government session.

The country's GDP is up 0.8 per cent compared to last year.

"The growth is modest, but it contributes towards the GDP growth planned for this year. This could be a grain of optimism for us, but also for the citizens," Kosor said.

The government's estimates put this year’s growth projections at 1.5 per cent. The first quarter was in red by 0,8 per cent, while the second quarter was up by just as much.
The government expects the GDP to grow further based on indicators such as the growth of industrial production (up 1.1 per cent in the second quarter), exports (up 5.6 per cent) and retail trade (4.9 per cent).

The government has been encouraged by the fact that Croatia's growth is comparable to some of other European states'. Italy, for example, is "about the same" as Croatia, in Great Britain GDP grew 0.7 per cent, in Romania 0.3 per cent, France 1.6 per cent and Hungary 1.2 per cent.

Although GDP growth is good news coming after two and a half years of continual drops (since the third quarter of last year when it grew 0.3 per cent), the results are worse than independent analysts have thought considering they expected one per cent growth.

The third quarter marked by a good tourist season will be in plus, but economists are worried about the fourth quarter since the recovery of European Union economy – to which Croatia is tied now – is slowing down.