The survey questioned companies on 25 of the most significant export markets for Austria, including Croatia. Of the 650 Austrian companies doing business in Croatia, 500 were sent questionnaires and 98 (20%) responded.
In reference to the general economic climate and situation in Croatia, 55% of the respondents said that it had improved over the past 12 months as far as their companies are concerned, 31% consider that it remained unchanged and 14% said the situation had deteriorated.
Looking toward the next 12 months, 46% consider that the situation will improve and 46% consider that it will remain unchanged, while 8% consider that it will be worse than last year.
Compared to neighbouring countries that took part in the survey, Austrian companies doing business in Slovenia for example, considered the situation there better than Austrian companies did in Croatia, with 65% saying the situation in Slovenia had improved over the past 12 months. Unlike Croatia's 46%, in Slovenia only 36% of Austrian companies, however, considered that the situation in Slovenia would improve this year.
The survey also examined five important development factors - total revenue, situation with orders, capacity utilisation, number of the employed and investment volume.
Based on their responses, 63% of Austrian companies in Croatia expect a growth in revenue in the next 12 months, 58% expect a jump in orders, 53% expect greater capacity utilisation, 42% expect to increase the number of employees and 34% expect a growth in investments.
The Austrian Foreign Trade Centre's director, Sonja Holocher-Ertl, said that sentiment among Austrian companies in Croatia was generally positive and was mostly comparable to the 24 other countries that participated in the survey.
Similarly to last year, the three most important issues regarding regulations that would make Croatia more attractive to Austrian companies were legal security, fewer provisions and regulations, and greater predictability of economic policies.
The three most important factors to improve the situation on the market include payment morale, quality awareness and availability of workers.
The CEO of the Erste Bank, Christoph Schoefboeck, noted that the lack of qualified workers and finding personnel was a growing problem and that this was also the case in other countries too.