National Bank Governor and Tourism Minister hold their respective year-end press conferences

The Governor of the Croatian National Bank and the Tourism Minister both hosted their year-end press conferences on Monday. Both saw 2025 as relatively positive, but warned of possible challenges in the coming year.

At his annual press conference on Monday, the Governor of the Croatian National Bank Boris Vujčić announced that Croatia's GDP could grow by 3% in real terms in 2025 and by 2.8% in 2026, which is a small downgrade from the bank’s earlier forecasts. He also said that inflation is expected to drop from 3.7% this year, to 3.1% in 2026 and 2.3% in 2027, while real wage growth and consumer spending are expected to slow when compared to the previous two years: "Nominal wage growth in 2023 and 2024 was 15%. We expect it to remain high at almost 10% this year, to decrease to 6% in 2026, and down to 4.5% in 2027. This should contribute to reducing inflationary pressures, primarily in the service sector where the inflation rate has been continuously high and has not decreased."

Meanwhile, representing possibly the biggest contributor to Croatia’s GDP, Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina also hosted a year-end press conference on Monday, noting that in spite of some challenges, 2025 will end with record high numbers. The sector registered a two percent year-on-year increase in tourist arrivals and a one percent increase overnight stays. Glavina warned that price competitiveness will be the key to success in 2026: "Price stabilization has happened throughout Europe and the Mediterranean, and this stabilization must also happen at home. If we do not do it ourselves, as we prepare for a good tourism sector result in 2026, the market will do it for us, but with negative consequences."

For his part the Director of the Croatian Tourist Board, Kristjan Staničić, noted that efforts will need to be made to ensure a positive outcome in 2026: "In spite of very good indicators, we have also seen certain signals from some markets. Specifically, we saw a decline in arrivals and overnight stays from markets such as the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, the Netherlands and France. And that is certainly something that we will take into account when planning. In fact we have already started certain promotional activities for 2026."

Source: HRT