Rijeka, 14 January 2010 – Croatian economy does not need development but salvation, said the UATUC Vice-President for Economy Sector Ivan Tomac at today’s round table on the situation of economy in Primorsko-goranska County organized by the UATUC in trade union house “Franjo Belulović in Rijeka. It is moreover necessary to re-examine the effects of the Act on Support for Maintaining Jobs because it did not give any positive results. Resources for supporting companies which had to reduce working week in order not to dismiss workers, of 250 million kuna remained unused and the number of the unemployed continuously grows.

We will soon have 300,000 unemployed in the country, said Tomac, and pointed out that in the last two months the most dismissals occurred in commerce sector, manufacturing industry and construction industry, and in the latter it often happens that the wages are late and contributions are not paid.

- The number of registered legal entities in Croatia represents a serious problem because out of 264,000 legal entities 140,000 are inactive and 55,000 do not have even one employee, said Tomac.  

The Adviser to the President of Croatian Chamber of Commerce Miljenko Fičor pointed out that in Primorsko-goranska County in the first nine months last year the income from economy decreased for 9.2 percent, gross profit for 17 percent and investments for 30 percent.

The only positive results are the increase of the number of companies and average wage, he said. On the other hand, export from the County decreased in the first nine months of 2009 as compared with the same period of 2008 from 792 million kuna to 463 million kuna, and import from 1.46 billion kuna to 848 million, said Fičor.

Insolvency of companies in Primorsko-goranska County is increased as compared with 2008 from 1.7 billion kuna to 2.25 billion kuna, and unpaid settlements from 949 million kuna to 1.4 billion kuna.