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Croatia’s corporate bond market is still in the fledgling stage. Earlier companies would prefer taking financial assistance from banks because of the regulatory advantages the banks had. The other reason is that Croatian companies did not have the type of transparency companies in other countries have. However, things are now changing with the development of the corporate bond market in Croatia. Companies are more conducive to seeking financing source from the capital market.
Financially, things are looking up for Croatia. The country’s GDP rose from 4.3 percent in 2005 to 4.8 percent in 2006. Foreign investment has seen a dramatic growth and in 2006 net inflows from FDI increased to 7.8 percent. Even unemployment has decreased substantially. All this is because of economic stability with kuna trading steadily against euro. In addition, as more and more foreign investors are getting attracted to the country, its bond market credit ratings are stable.
Croatia’s economic growth and competitiveness is because of easier regulatory systems, modern infrastructure, open internal market and a productive workforce. This means that most companies in the country are getting attracted to raising finance from the capital market and IPOs are expected to increase substantially in the coming years. In addition, even issuing of corporate bonds and trading of securities and bonds will increase quite substantially in the next few years.
For the development of corporate bond market in Croatia to happen even further, the youth have to educate themselves so that they are well-prepared. After all Croatia’s financial sector is one of the strongest in the region and the Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) is fast emerging as a financial hub.
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