The Croatian economy continued to see negative trends from the first quarter, which were reflected through the preliminary announcement of a 2.1% decline of GDP in the second quarter, the chief economist at Zagrebacka Banka, Hrvoje Dolenec, said in a comment on the UniCredit report.

The Croatian oil company INA has lost a considerable income from Syrian oilfields, shipbuilding production is substantially lower in anticipation of restructuring, steel mills are under restructuring and have also reduced their output, and one of the country's biggest chemical companies has ceased production, he said.

"Considering the worsened outlook on trends in the euro zone, we have revised down our GDP projections to -1.8% in 2012 and 0.5% in 2013," Dolenec said.

On the upside, he said that the tourist sector saw a rise in the number of tourist arrivals and bed nights, fiscal consolidation was continuing, and Fitch rating agency favourably assessed the government's short-term measures to stabilise the budget and changed its rating outlook from negative to stable.