The report, carried by Zagreb firm BonLine, focuses on last month's visit by Prime Minister Ivo Sanader to neighbouring Serbia, which it says has boosted Croatia's prospects of joining the European Union and highlighted improving ties between the two countries.
D&B analysts say this indicates the possibility of Croatia completing membership talks with the EU by 2007. They say it is realistic to expect Croatia to become a full member of the bloc in 2009.
Reporting on the Government's 2005 budget, D&B analysts described it as disappointing.
The Government is targeting a five per cent revenue increase to reduce the deficit to 3.7% of GDP, but it failed to reveal any realistic measures to deliver the increase in revenue or to curb growth in spending, and appears to be relying solely on faster economic growth to support the anticipated rise in tax receipts. The budget also lacked any new moves to liberalise the economy, the report says.
Croatia was ranked 11th on a scale of 25 transition countries covered by the survey. It falls in the same risk group as Bulgaria and Romania, with a rating of DB4c, which categorises them as countries of moderate risk of investment.
The top spot on the list has been occupied for quite some time now by Slovenia, with the best credit rating of DB2c. It is followed by Hungary with a rating of DB2d.
The bottom of the list has been occupied for months by Albania, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, with a rating of DB6d. They are rated as countries with a very high risk of investment.