The survey, whose findings were presented on Wednesday, was made in April and included 38 financial directors from Croatia, of whom none expect the Croatian economy to grow this year.
Fifty-eight per cent expect stagnation and 42% believe the recession will continue this year, said Juraj Moravek of Deloitte.
Of the 14 countries covered by the survey, only Slovenian financial directors were more pessimistic than those in Croatia. Seventy per cent of those in Slovenia expect the recession and 30% expect stagnation.
On the other hand, 77% of Estonian directors expect growth ranging from 1 to 3%, while 16% expect growth to exceed 3%.
Nearly 74% of Croatian managers expect unemployment to continue growing this year, while 42% are optimistic about their companies' financial prospects and, as a result, are disinclined to take risks.
Nearly 90% of Croatian managers will focus this year on operational and financial restructuring, collection of payments, and better liquidity, said Moravek.
Less than 40% said they would focus on investments, with only a few planning investments financed with European Union funds.
This was Deloitte's fourth such survey. It covered Albania, Kosovo, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia.