ANALYSIS OF ABSORBED FUNDS TILL THE END OF 2017 FROM THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME OF THE REPUBLIC OF CROATIA FOR THE PERIOD 2014.-2020.

The Program of the Rural Development of the Republic of Croatia for the period of 2014-2020 had been approved by the European Commission on May 26, 2015. The Rural Development Program of the Republic of Croatia defines 6 priorities with 18 measures aimed at increasing the competitiveness of Croatian agriculture, forestry, processing industry and improving living and working conditions in rural areas. The program is worth about 2.4 billion (sic), and have been four time changed until 2018. The focus of this paper is on the Measure 4 - Investments in Physical Property with sub measures 4.1. Aid for investments in agricultural holdings, and 4.2. Support for investment in the processing, marketing and/or development of agricultural food products, and Measure 6 - Development of farms and operations with sub measures 6.1. Support to young farmers and 6.3. Support to the development of small agricultural holdings. Over the past period for Measures 4 and 6, 10.058 beneficiaries were requested, of which 2.922 users were paid in the total amount of 835,398,701.29 kn. There were 3.570 decisions on allocation of funds in the amount of 2,411,317,030.68 kn, while the total amount of the requested grants amounted to 7,493,928,784.69 kn, of which were issued 1.861 rejection decisions worth 3,045,245,033.60 kn. Out of the total requested amount of aid, 32.18% was approved, while 34.64% was paid out.