Highlights
Brazil: mobile signals and mango trees
Samsung Galaxy S4: going the distance
Lane Crawford: bold bets in China
Zenith Bank makes its own way
Chart of the Week: woes of Malaysia’s exporters

Tag: Croatia economy

Croatia likely to be in recession as it joins the EU this year

Feb 28, 2013 4:09pm by Andrew MacDowall
Share
Share this on

This might have been a triumphant year for Croatia. Less than a decade and half after its war of independence, the country will join the EU in July, symbolically returning to the mainstream European fold after decades of authoritarianism and conflict.

But 2013 could well be yet another year in recession for the troubled Croatian economy. A flash estimate published on Thursday suggested that GDP had shrunk 2.0 per cent in the full year 2012 – and prompting forecasts of a grim 2013. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Croatia: Moody’s downgrades to junk

Feb 1, 2013 3:26pm by Andrew MacDowall
Share
Share this on

A fistful of kunaCroatia is set to become the European Union’s latest member in July, but Moody’s decision to downgrade its credit rating shows long-awaited accession cannot quickly fix the country’s woes. The sluggish pace of reform and a tight fiscal position have exacerbated the difficulties caused by the eurozone crisis. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia |

Croatia: surviving recession

Nov 30, 2012 12:47pm by Stefan Wagstyl
Share
Share this on

A grim reminder on Friday of the economic havoc that the eurozone crisis is wreaking in the Balkans.

Croatia’s GDP shrank 1.9 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, according to to the state statistics bureau, putting the country well on the way to a 2 per cent contraction for 2012, the fourth year of recession in a row. Hardly the best preparation for joining the EU next July. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Croatia: German warning on EU bid

Oct 17, 2012 1:23pm by Andrew MacDowall
Share
Share this on

“Croatia is clearly not yet ready for membership.” Not the message that Zagreb wanted to hear as it prepares for EU accession, particularly from a figure as senior as the speaker of the German parliament.

The statement by Bundestag speaker Norbert Lammert (pictured) , made in an interview with the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, comes at an unfortunate time, as Croatia faces growing scepticism over its EU membership bid and a Slovenian threat to block the process altogether. But despite the flak, Croatia still looks set to join the EU on July 1 2013 as planned. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia |

Croatia: still shrinking

Sep 20, 2012 1:45pm by Andrew MacDowall
Share
Share this on

While the Croatian tourism sector is currently celebrating the best of times, for the broader economy the news isn’t getting any better.

The country attracted more visitors than ever before this summer, on target to bring in €7bn by the end of the year. But this was not enough to rescue GDP, which has now contracted for a third consecutive quarter. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Guest post: Croatia must retain fiscal prudence and caution over foreign debt

Sep 14, 2012 1:27pm by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

By Alen Kovac of Erste Bank

The Fitch rating agency’s decision this month to upgrade its outlook on Croatia to stable and affirm the country’s investment grade status was more than welcome.

But Croatia needs to make further efforts to secure the stabilty of its credit ratings over the next few years. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Croatia’s tax name-and-shame

Aug 9, 2012 4:56pm by Kester Eddy
Share
Share this on

Croats may not know much about Benjamin Franklin, one of America’s most influential founding fathers, but they are certainly getting to know about one of his most famous quotations: “but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”

That, at least, is the hope of the Croatian inland revenue, which last week – to the consternation of some, and the delight of many – published lists of 102,000 tax debtors. The list includes construction giants, high-profile business personalities, humble craftsmen and rock stars who, so the authority claims, owe the state some 52bn kuna (€6.9bn) in total. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Croatia: time to tighten the belt

Jan 26, 2012 6:45pm by Neil MacDonald
Share
Share this on

Croatia’s government on Thursday announced plans for sweeping spending cuts aimed at curbing deficit growth and strengthening weakened credit ratings.

Zoran Milanovic, the new prime minister whose centre-left majority coalition took power last month, proposed cuts of 4.6bn kuna (€630m /$795m) in the 2012 budget, with the austerity spread around evenly to minimise the pain. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Croatia: election blues

Dec 2, 2011 4:58pm by Neil MacDonald
Share
Share this on

As Croatians head to the polls on Sunday, they will do so under a cloud of gloom about what lies ahead for their country’s economy, regardless of the near-certainty of rotation of power.

The centre-right Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), headed by the prime minister, Jadranka Kosor, appears all set to crash and burn in the parliamentary elections as voters punish it for the weak economy and spiralling corruption scandals. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

Solving Croatia’s foreign debt woes

Oct 14, 2011 3:20pm by Neil MacDonald
Share
Share this on

With election season heating up, Croatia’s exporters are anxious to make their voices heard. Nine successful manufacturers and exporters formed a club last month calling for tax incentives to boost competitiveness and draw more hard currency into the debt-laden country.

“Our debts are in euros, dollars or whatever,” explained Drazen Matiegka, president of Eurocable Group, a high-tech cable manufacturer, and a founder of Lider Exporters Club. “Exporting is the only way to solve the problem. Or else we could sell islands, sell power utilities. But you can’t sell those again.” Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Croatia, Europe |

BB: time to register

Dear beyondbrics readers,

After more than three years of fully open access, we are taking the step of asking our readers to register on FT.com to read our articles. Beyondbrics will still be free but we'd like to know a bit more about you, our readers. Other FT blogs (including Alphaville) already do the same thing. Registration is active on beyondbrics from May 6.

Many of you are already registered on FT.com, or are subscribers - in which case, if you are logged in to the site you will not notice any difference. Just carry on as before.

For those of you not yet registered, it's a simple process which only takes a few moments.

Reading beyondbrics articles will NOT deduct from your free monthly quota of stories on FT.com.

Many thanks

Stefan Wagstyl, emerging markets editor

Global equities macromap

Number of the day

-0.2% Fall in Polish retail sales in April, rather worse than 1.1 per cent growth expected.

beyondbrics

The emerging markets hub

About this blog Headlines email Blog guide
News and comment from more than 40 emerging economies, headed by Brazil, Russia, India and China.



'Like' our beyondbrics Facebook page, where we showcase a top story of the day
Sign up for our news headlines and markets snaphot service. We have two emails per day - London and New York headlines (sent at approx 6am and 12pm GMT).

Pretty much everything you need to know about beyondbrics is in our About this site page. But briefly:

To comment, please register for free with FT.com and read our policy on submitting comments.

There is an overall beyondbrics RSS feed, as well as feeds for all our countries, tags and authors. Learn more in our full RSS guide.

All posts are published in UK time.

Get in touch with us - your comments, advice and even complaints. Find out how to contact the team.

See the full list of FT blogs.

BB shortcuts

Regulars Series Archive
Chart of the week
Behind the numbers

Corporate watch
A regular in-depth look at a significant emerging market-based company

The Weekender
Catch up with the week in emerging markets
Hello 2013
Guest posts on the outlook for the year ahead

2012 review
Quiz, charts, most read and more

BB review
An occasional series reviewing books and arts from around the beyondbrics world

Brics at 10
A decade of growth
12 for 2012
Guest writer predictions
2011 review
The year in numbers
The Diaspora Digest
EM diasporas, seen through their community media (Oct-Nov 2011)
Sick brics (Sep 2011)
Brics and mortar (Aug 2011)
Beyondbrics on the beach (Jul-Aug 2011)
China bubble? (June 2011)
Post-election Nigeria (June 2011)
Hey bric spender (Aug 2010)

Emerging markets data

Archive

« AprMay 2013
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031