Croatia's budget deficit accounts for 3.2 percent of GDP in 2015

Croatia's budget deficit amounted to 10.7 billion kunas (1.61 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.2 percent of the country's gross domestic product in 2015, the National Bureau of Statistics (DZS) said on Thursday.

It was a significant drop when compare with 18.1 billion kunas in 2014, which accounted for 5.5 percent of the country's GDP then, DZS said.

The government debt increased by 1.9 percent year-on-year in 2015, reaching 289.7 billion kunas, or 86.7 percent of GDP, according to DZS.

In 2015, government surplus was recorded for the first time with 1.22 billion kunas, or 0.36 percent of GDP, it added.

The increase in tax revenues and the fall in gross fixed capital investments mainly contributed to the reduction of the budget gap, it said.

The current Croatian government has projected the budget deficit for 2016 at 9.2 billion Kunas, or 2.7 percent of GDP, a figure that will meet the European Union's rule demanding its member countries to keep their budget deficit within 3 percent of GDP.

The government expected the public debt accounted to 86.8 percent of GDP this year and 84.7 percent by 2018.