The document underlines that after being hit by recession for years, Croatia's economy has been recovering, with a rise in industry and exports. Since 2008, investments have also increased for the first time, according to the document
The election platform promises the acceleration in the economic growth and notes that the government will make sure that Croatia be ranked among top 40 countries in the world according to criteria for doing business,
The SDP-led coalition promises the revocation of some more extra taxes, and notes that since 2012, the tax burden on businesses had been relieved by HRK 450 million annually through the cancellation of some extra tariffs. In the same vein, the coalition says it will undertake to reduce para-fiscal taxes by an additional 330 million kuna in 2016.
The document cites the planned reduction of Vale Added Tax rates on some food products, including fish, from 25% to 13%.
The SDP-led coalition says that it has made a turnaround in negative trends in unemployment and employment, noting that during the term of the government led by the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), the country had shed 166,000 jobs, according to methodology used by the EU and that over 70,000 workers had not received salaries regularly during the previous government, while this number of workers hit by default in wage payment had been reduced to 20,000 in the term of the current government.
The SDP-led government boasts that the economic recovery has also paved the way for a rise in employment and consequently, the unemployment rate has fallen to 15%, a record low in the last six years.
The coalition notes that the problems relating to the public sector are not caused by its size but by its inefficiency, and this coalition promises measures making the apparatus more efficient rather than massive curtailment.
The coalition says it will strengthen the role of cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants in the next term.
It also plans to increase the number of young Croatian researchers and university lecturers by 15% in the next three years.
It outlines plans for further investments of eight billion kuna into the rail infrastructure and positions the national electricity provider HEP as a key stakeholder in new projects in the energy sector.
The documents presents plans for investments into 13 waste management centres.
The leaders of the SDP, Croatian People's Party (HNS), Croatian Pensioners' Party (HSU), Autochthonous Croatian Peasant Party (AHSS), and Croatian Labour Party and Zagorje Party (ZS) signed a coalition agreement under the motto "Croatia is growing, there's no going back," a month ago.
(EUR 1 = HRK 7.6)