The influence of international trade of goods of the Republic of Croatia

Purpose - This paper aims to analyze the influence of international trade of goods of Croatia in the period from 2001 till 2010. The study shows contribution of exports and imports of goods on the real GDP growth, in time which represented the global economic crisis, of Croatia in comparison to other European countries in the region. International trade has developed as a fast solution from the crisis of every affected national economy. Design/methodology/approach - To determine previous comprehension of the problems of this research, the data were collected by documentary analysis of domestics and foreign scientific and academic literature. The data were complemented by statistics provided by Croatian Bureau of Statistics, Croatian National Bank, Eurostat and authors' own calculations of the data collected. The paper aims to clarify the level of international trade of goods, imports dependency, exports propensity, and degree of openness and involvement of Croatia in the international trade of goods. Findings - This study implies that for the Croatian economy, its growth and the development, it is important to raise profit in exports which would result in higher coverage of imports by exports. Main focus in this research is to explore the Croatian industry, its development, competitiveness and international integration; thereby investigate foreign trade of goods. Exports of goods don't have a significant positive contribution to the realised GDP growth rate of Croatia such as other countries in the region. Originality/value - It is suggested that international market success depends on the competitive ability of all business subjects included in the international trade.