SURVEY: CROATIANS CAUTIOUS IN ECONOMIC FORECASTS

ZAGREB, Aug 16 (Hina) - Croatian citizens do not have very optimistic short-term expectations as regards the improvement of the economic situation in the country and their household budgets - almost two thirds of respondents in a survey believe the situation in the next 12 months will be the same or even worse than it is. As regards expectations in the next five years, 42 percent of respondents are moderately optimistic and believe in economic progress, while 50 percent expect their family budgets will improve. #L# As regards the current situation with their family budgets, more than half of respondents say that they are barely making ends meet and have to take loans, while almost a third believe they will never have a satisfactory standard of living. These are some indicators from a survey on some basic characteristics of life and work in Croatia, conducted in April this year by the GfK market research centre. A total of 42 percent of respondents say that they are barely making ends meet, 15 percent say they have to take loans, while 10 percent have to use their savings. Slightly more than one fourth (27 percent) manage to save some money, while only four percent can save significant amounts of money. Most respondents believe that reaching a satisfactory standard of living, which they did not specify in the survey, will take time, while 32 percent believe they will never reach it. Only nine percent say that they already have a satisfactory standard of living. The respondents were not particularly optimistic about the development of the economic situation in the period April 2003 - April 2004. More than one third (35 percent) believe that the situation will deteriorate. Of this percentage, 22 percent believe that the general economic situation will be slightly worse, while 13 percent believe it will be much worse. Twenty-seven percent believe that the economic situation in April next year will be the same as in April this year. Fifteen percent expect the situation to improve slightly, while only one percent believe it will be much better. A considerable share of respondents (22 percent) could not say what the economic situation would be like next year. As regards the economic situation in the next five years, 42 percent respondents believe it will be much better compared to the current situation. Thirty-seven percent expect the situation to improve slightly, while only five percent expect a significant improvement. Twenty-eight percent do not believe the situation will change in the next five years, while 12 percent expect it to deteriorate slightly and 11 percent think it will be much worse than now. With regard to their family budgets, the respondents were cautiously optimistic in their forecasts for the next 12 months. Relatively the largest share of 38 percent believe that the financial situation in their households will not change in said period, 19 percent estimate it will deteriorate slightly, while eight percent expect a much worse situation than now. Only 17 percent expect the financial situation in their households to improve slightly, while only one percent say it will be much better than at the time of the survey, read data released on the GfK web site. As regards expectations for the next five-year period, half the interviewed expect an improvement. Forty percent think that their household budgets will improve slightly, while 10 percent expect a major improvement. More than a fourth of all respondents (26 percent) do not expect any changes, while 16 percent are pessimistic - eight percent of these believe the financial situation of their family will be slightly worse in the next five years, while the other eight percent think it will be much worse. (hina) rml