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Zagreb - The Croatian IT sector is growing and has proved to be less vulnerable to the negative impact of the crisis in 2020 and 2021, the state secretary of the Central State Office for the Development of the Digital Society, Bernard Gršić, said during discussion on the proposed Digital Croatia Strategy 2032 in Parliament on Thursday.
"The public administration too has made great progress in digitalisation," Gršić said when asked by MP Anita Pocrnić Radošević (HDZ) who was better prepared for digital transformation, public administration or the enterprise sector.
There are about 6,500 IT companies in Croatia with about 40,000 employees and their exports have increased by 6.3%, he said.
Croatia ranks 43rd among 63 countries on this year's digital competitiveness index of the World Competitiveness Center, and 21st among the 27 EU member states, and is moving up, Gršić said.
Presenting the Digital Croatia Strategy 2032, he said that it is aimed at developing an innovative digital economy and public administration and increasing the availability and use of fibre-optic and 5G networks and the digital competences of citizens.
The share of the ICT sector in GDP is expected to grow to 13-15% by 2032, compared with 4.5% in 2019.
The strategy was backed by both the ruling and opposition parties, saying that it covers all the areas that need to be digitalised and goals that need to be achieved. Attention was drawn to the poor availability of broadband internet access in rural areas, which is important for the development of agriculture and better market access.