Is Croatia In Recession Or Isn`t It?

What sort of fear and crisis are you taking about when 300,000 people went skiing and 100,000 bought new cars – Markovinovic wondered.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – The discussion at the Croatian Parliament on the report of the Croatian National Bank (HNB) for the first half of 2008 turned into a long and exhausting soap opera with representatives of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) arguing over the question whether Croatia is in a crisis or is not. The only thing they agreed on was that the HNB helped to avoid the collapse of the financial system with a wise policy and should reduce interest rates instead of making extra profit, but their views of everyday life hardships differ significantly, depending on if they are from the governing party of the opposition section of the Parliament.

Thus, the SDP said that Croatia is in a severe crisis, on the brink of disaster, freezing and starvation, while the HDZ government irresponsibly avoids passing urgent measures. The governing ones claim that there is no crisis, perhaps the recession which came from abroad was actually “a challenge”. Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic and Krunoslav Markovinovic stated their arguments.

- Cough and poverty cannot be hidden – Anticevic Marinovic of the SDP said.

- What sort of fear and crisis are you taking about when 300,000 people went skiing and 100,000 bought new cars? They can`t make ends meet? How can they make skiing meet? – The HDZ representative asked her.

Damir Kajin of the Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS) believes Croatia is “going to hell”, regardless of what the government is doing and that the last train for investment has taken off.

Andrija Hebrang of the HDZ said that the IMF would not return to Croatia, because the Croatian government has a programme for the crisis.