Croatia, Economy

Before the disintegration of Yugoslavia in 1991 Croatia was the federation’s second most prosperous and industrialized republic after Slovenia, with a per capita output approximately one-third above the Yugoslav average. Although Croatia was part of a Communist, one-party system from the mid-1940s until 1990, Yugoslav socialism was decentralized. Enterprises, although under state control, were generally free to make their own pricing and investment decisions (subject to some political interference), and were allowed to compete with one another.

Before the war in 1991 nearly two-thirds of the republic’s land was cultivated, and sugar beets, wheat, oats, rye, barley and corn (maize) were the principal agricultural products. Mining, notably of bauxite and brown coal, played some role in Croatia’s socialist economy. Other industries included food processing, petroleum refining, iron and steel production, shipbuilding, and the manufacture of chemicals, machinery, cement and concrete, metals, and textiles. Croatia also had a thriving tourist industry along the Dalmatian coast.