The positive steps ahead are reflected in a 6.6 per cent growth of industrial output in the first two months of the year, a 3.6 per cent growth of retail sales in January, and a 13.2 per cent increase in the number of overnights in January, said Jasna Belosevic-Matic, director of the HGK Centre for Macroeconomic Analyses, adding that the percentages referred to the corresponding periods last year.
However, the further growth of the external debt and the continued unfavourable export-import ratio remain the biggest problems of Croatia's economy.
According to the latest figures, the external debt reached EUR26.2 billion at the end of February, said Belosevic-Matic, underlining that despite the high debt, the dynamic of its growth slowed down, making the results in this field better than in 2005.
The unfavourable foreign trade is an issue with a number of aspects, from exports' insufficient share in GDP to the fact that imports have incited the deindustrialisation of the national economy, replacing a part of domestic output.