Surveys show that Croatian primary and secondary shool students lag behind their European peers in terms of financial literacy, said Nevenka Loncaric Jelacic, a senior advisor at the Education Agency. She said that civics, which was recently introduced in schools, would help prepare students to deal with real-life problems, including those related to finances.
"Students are very much interested in and motivated to learn about personal and family finances," she said.
Danijela Princi Grgat of the Croatian Institute for Financial Education presented a web portal dedicated to financial education, hife.hr, as well as a project during which young people were taught about loans, credit cards, insurance and household budgets. She noted that students showed significant interest in the project.
"The Economy Ministry has four services for consumer consulting but consumers contact them only after they have signed a bad contract. It is our goal to have them contact us more frequently while they are thinking about signing a contract or making a purchase," Djena Bartulovic of the Economy Ministry said.
Bojan Fras of the Croatian National Bank presented an OECD form designed to test financial literacy.
By the end of the year the form will be filled in by at least 1,000 Croatians, he said, adding that the results of a survey on financial literacy would be made known by the end of the year.
Zoran Bohacek, director of the Croatian Banking Association (HUB), said that HUB had pioneered financial literacy in the country and in 2006 launched workshops to teach members of the public how to manage their income and expenditure. These workshops were later followed by workshops for business people, Bohacek said, adding that HUB was preparing new materials to help parents explain the concept of money to their children.