Croatia's gross domestic product in the three months of 2009 was 6.7 per cent lower compared with the first quarter in 2008, the national statistics office announced earlier this week.
 
This was the largest annual drop since 1993 when the Croatian economy was seriously damaged during the war (1991-95).

The statistics office said that all essential components of the GDP declined in the first quarter except public expenditure which rose 3.9 per cent.

Household expenditure declined nearly 10 per cent, direct investments dropped 12 per cent, exports of goods and services declined 14.2 per cent and imports fell 20 per cent, the office said.

In the production sector the sectors what were hit hardest were energy, the steel industry and tourism, while agriculture and construction lost less.

Croatian economists forecast the GDP will decline from 4 per cent to 5 per cent for all of 2009.