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Croatia might exit EU deficit procedure in spring: FinMin

Xinhua, February 23, 2017 Adjust font size:

Croatia might exit the excessive deficit procedure (EDP) in the spring based on the recovery of its economy, Croatian Finance Minister Zdravko Maric said on Wednesday.

Following a European Commission report reviewing the country, it was revealed that Croatia's deficit reached below 2 percent of GDP, meeting EU recommendations, which was 2.6 percent in 2015.

Maric said the government managed to reduce public debt for the first time.

However, the European Commission published on Wednesday a review on macroeconomic imbalances of member-countries, and viewed Croatia still has excessive deficit procedure due to high levels of debt and low potential growth.

Although some reform measures were adopted and public finances have improved, progress of structural reforms has been stalling since mid-2015, the European Commission said.

The Croatian minister attributed the delay of structural reforms to "the objective circumstance of an early election," which held in last September. Endite