The Dun & Bradstreet (D&B) agency, a leading provider of international credit information, retains Croatia's credit rating at DB3d for January, classifying Croatia among countries with slight investment risk, according to the D&B "International Risk and Payment Review" monthly, carried by the Zagreb-based Bonline company on Thursday.
The report on Croatia reads that 24.5% of cross-border payments fromCroatian companies "arrived 30 or more days over terms in the year toend-Q3 2009".
"Some 64.2% of payments were paid promptly in the same period, while9.9% of payments were paid 60 or more days over terms," the report readsadding that 2.7% of payments were with delays of 120 days or longer.
D&B forecasts that meeting foreign payments obligations for Croatiancompanies "will remain challenging in the near term".
According to the report "a continuing poor outlook for jobs and realwages will constrain growth in household spending to around 0.3% in 2010".
Household disposable income will remain squeezed by firms seeking to rein incosts and higher taxes geared to keeping the budget deficit in check.
D&B believes that Croatian export-oriented companies "shouldbenefit from a projected upturn in world trade in 2010".
It also expects Croatia's total exports to increase by 0.8% in real terms in2010.
D&B envisages that the country's output and sales would "remainrelatively depressed until well into 2010".
"This will put pressure on firms' operating income, especially when thenascent global recovery starts to cause international commodity prices to rise,raising the cost of inputs that companies will struggle to pass on theiralready reluctant buyers."
However, Croatia's commercial risk environment has improved considerably inrecent years and this trend should continue with the country's preparations foraccession into the European Union.
The report commends the national banking system for its stability.
