In its July report, D&B focused on a report which an International Monetary Fund staff team made after visiting Zagreb in May, although D&B "is a little less pessimistic" than the IMF.
D&B based its optimism on fiscal policy guidelines for the 2007-09 period approved in 2006, noting that they are realistic as they are based "on continued expenditure restraint and ongoing structural reforms, especially in the areas of pensions, health care and the reduction of subsidies paid to (...) shipbuilding and steel manufacture".
With its DB3d risk indicator, Croatia came ninth in July's ranking of 25 countries. Slovenia was ranked first with a DB2b indicator of small risk for investors. The other countries above Croatia are Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.
In the Eastern Europe regional risk indicator, Croatia was ranked better than new European Union countries Bulgaria and Romania.