ZAGREB, Sept 4 (Hina) - Of the overall profit realised by Croatian companies with foreign ownership structure in the first half of this year, 31% was paid as dividends, while the largest part or 69 percent was retained profit. That
means that the profit has remained in Croatia, the head of the Croatian National Bank's (HNB) statistics department, Igor Jemric, has said.
ZAGREB, Sept 4 (Hina) - Of the overall profit realised by Croatian
companies with foreign ownership structure in the first half of
this year, 31% was paid as dividends, while the largest part or 69
percent was retained profit. That means that the profit has
remained in Croatia, the head of the Croatian National Bank's (HNB)
statistics department, Igor Jemric, has said. #L#
By stating this, Jemric has dismissed media speculations that
foreign owners had sucked out sizeable funds from the Croatian
economy, adding to the deficit of the state's balance of payments.
HNB data show that the reported problem of profit being sucked out
of the country does not exist, Jemric said.
Last year, Croatian companies with foreign ownership structure
earned profits totalling some 679 million dollars, of which 206.14
million was paid as dividends, and 471.55 million was retained
profit, Jemric said, presenting official HNB statistics at the
presentation of this year's UNCTAD report on foreign investments in
the world in 2002.
He added that the average retained profit in the segment of the
Croatian economy with foreign ownership structure between 1993 and
2002 accounted for 67 percent of all profits, with banks and
processing industry being above the average, with retained profit
accounting for 72 and 76 percent of overall profits.
(hina) rml sb