After discussing proposals for amendments, the Croatian Parliament today, November 29, voted for the budget for 2023, which is expected to have a state budget deficit of 2.3% of GDP and economic growth of 0.7%. Croatia will adopt the euro on 1 January 2023, so next year's budget has already been adopted in euro.
In a parliament of 151 deputies, the budget was supported by 77 deputies present. 50 deputies voted against.
According to them, the opposition parties did not vote for the budget because MPs from the ruling party did not support the amendments they made. Of the 428 amendments, only ten were adopted by Parliament. Their total cost was € 9.5 million. According to the opposition parties, the budget benefits the government and the state, not the citizens of Croatia. According to them, this does not guarantee that wages, pensions and social benefits will increase next year.
The government is targeting €25bn in revenues and €26.7bn in spending. The state budget deficit will be €1.6bn. The cabinet expects annual inflation to be 10.4% this year, but to fall to 5.7%.
Spending will increase by €2.1 billion compared to 2022. According to the government, the growth reflects the policy of the Cabinet of Ministers, primarily the qualitative growth of social assistance, the stability of the pension system, as well as the continuation of demographic measures and recovery after the 2020 earthquake.
Zagreb expects economic growth of 0.7% in 2023, 2.7% in 2024 and 2.6% in 2025. The ratio of public debt to GDP is planned to decrease from 79.8% in 2021 to 71.3% in 2022 and to 69% in 2023.
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