Driven largely by increased consumption and investment, the Croatian economy grew by 3.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter of 2024, slower than in the previous quarter, while it strengthened by 3.8% over the entire year. The Croatian Bureau of Statistics (DZS) released its first estimate on Thursday, showing that Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the fourth quarter of 2024 grew by 3.7% in real terms compared to the same period in 2023.

This marks the 16th consecutive quarter of growth, though slightly slower than the previous quarter when growth stood at 3.9%.

Growth in consumption and investment

According to DZS data, household consumption, the largest component of GDP, grew by 6.3% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2024, faster than the 5.5% growth seen in the previous quarter.

Gross fixed capital investment grew by 9.5%, up from 9.2% in the previous quarter.

Government consumption rose by 7.1%, compared to a 5.3% increase in the third quarter.

Imports of goods and services grew by 9.9%, faster than the 4.1% increase in the previous quarter. Specifically, imports of goods rose by 8.8%, while imports of services increased by 14.9%.

Exports of goods and services grew by 4.7% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, a faster rate compared to the 1.5% growth in the previous quarter. Exports of goods grew by 9.2%, while exports of services increased by 0.1%.

According to the first estimate, the Croatian economy grew by 3.8% in total for 2024.

Faster growth than the EU average

According to seasonally adjusted data from the DZS, the Croatian economy grew by 3.6% year-on-year in the last quarter of 2024, and by 1.4% compared to the previous quarter.

This growth is considerably faster than the EU average.

Eurostat recently reported that the EU economy, based on seasonally adjusted data, grew by 0.2% in the last quarter of 2024 compared to the previous quarter, and by 1.1% year-on-year.

The euro area economy, on the other hand, grew by 0.1% quarter-on-quarter and by 0.9% year-on-year in the same period.