Croatia's Gross Domestic Product in 2009 shrank by 5.8 percent in real terms year on year, according to preliminary estimates given by the national Bureau of Statistics on Friday.
The last time GDP saw a decline was in 1999, and in that year GDP fell by 1.5 per cent.
In 2008, GDP increased by 2.4 per cent in real terms on the year.
In the last quarter of 2009, it dropped 4.4 percent on the year, and that was the fourth consecutive quarter the national economy saw a decline, albeit less than expected.
Nine macroeconomists previously interviewed by Hina had forecast that GDP could fall between 4.5 and 6.3 percent in the last quarter of 2009. They expected an average decline of 5.3 percent.
The first quarter of 2009 saw a GDP drop of 6.7 per cent on the year, the second quarter saw a decrease of 6.3 per cent, and the third of 5.7 per cent.
According to the bureau, the main drivers of the downturn in the first three quarters of 2009 were a decline in personal consumption and a drop in gross fixed capital investments.
