September 6 (SeeNews) - Croatia's central bank expects the country's economic growth to accelerate in the third quarter after slowing down on both annual and quarterly comparison basis in the second quarter, it said.
"The economic activity in Croatia continued increasing in the second quarter of 2019, although at a significantly slower pace compared to the beginning of the year," the central bank, HNB, said in a statement on Thursday.
Croatia's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to a real 2.4% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, from 3.9% in the preceding quarter, the Croatian Bureau of Statistics said in a first estimate last week.
On a quarterly comparison basis, the GDP growth also slowed down in the second quarter of 2019, to just 0.2%, from the 1.5% increase recorded in the first quarter.
All available indicators suggest that the real growth could accelerate in the third quarter, HNB said without elaborating.
The real annual growth of 2.4% in the second quarter came below the 3.2% increase expected by analysts at Austria-based Erste banking group.
However, Erste said last week, following the GDP data release by the statistical office, that it is keeping its full-year GDP growth forecast for Croatia at 3.2%.
In July, the chief economists at Croatia's top five banks increased their 2019 economic growth forecasts up to 3.0% from previously expected 2.6%, following the better than expected GDP growth of 3.9% in the first quarter of the year.
Croatia's central bank also raised in July its 2019 economic growth forecast to 3.1% from 2.5%-2.7% expected previously, saying the investment growth of both public and private sectors is expected to continue, to be coupled with higher domestic consumption.
The revisions are in line with the most recent forecast of the European Commission forecast, which has also lifted its projection for Croatia's 2019 economic growth to 3.1% from 2.6% predicted earlier, pointing to domestic demand as the main growth driver.
In August, the government in Zagreb reaffirmed its projections for 2.8% GDP growth this year, which would slow down to 2.5% in 2020 and 2.4% in each of 2021 and 2022.