Despite Croatia’s economy showing significant improvements following a recession which lasted six consecutive years, recent figures have shown that foreign direct investment has fallen sharply in the past year. 

According to analysis at Raiffeisenbank Austria, foreign direct investment into Croatia was €498 million euros in the first half of 2015. This is down 45% compared to the same period last year where the number was €928 million.

Statistics from the Croatian Central Bank show that nearly a quarter of this investment went into real estate, with retail trade sector taking 23.1% and chemical manufacturing taking 17.8%.

60% of the investments came from Luxembourg according to statistics, with Germany and the Netherlands being the second and third highest origin of FDI.

In conclusion, Raiffeisenbank Austria have stated that it will be necessary to improve the business climate in Croatia to improve the levels of foreign direct investment. They pointed to inefficiency of public administration, policy instability, tax rates, complexity of tax, access to finance, corruption and among other reasons, inadequately educated workforce.