ZAGREB: Croatia recorded a general budget surplus of 2.75 billion kuna ($457 million) last year, equal to 0.8 percent of gross domestic product, the state statistics bureau said on Friday.
It is the first time the newest European Union member has had a general budget surplus since it started applying EU methodology. The figure was much better than the government's target of a deficit of 0.6 percent of GDP. In 2016 the general budget deficit amounted to 0.9 percent of GDP.
Tax revenues and profits from public companies were higher than expected, the bureau said.
The statistics bureau also said that public debt at the end of 2017 amounted to 78.0 percent of GDP, down from 80.6 percent where it stood at the end of 2016. The overall public debt at the end of last year was 283.3 billion kuna.
Fiscal discipline and lowering public debt is important for Croatia as it has set a tentative goal of preparing its economy for adopting the euro within 7-8 years.
In an interview with Reuters Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said this week that Croatia planned to reduce the public debt by a further 2.5-3.0 percentage points this year, with economic growth of around three percent.
For this year Croatia originally planned a general budget deficit of 0.5 percent of GDP, aiming for a balanced budget in 2019 and a surplus of 0.8 percent in 2020.
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