Croatia's Ministry of Finance announced that finance ministers and senior officials from Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and North Macedonia signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on developing their national capital markets through closer coordination, regulatory alignment and increased market integration. The memorandum’s stated objective is to enhance liquidity and build stronger, more visible, efficient and competitive capital markets across Central and South-Eastern Europe, with a focus on concrete actions to expand market capacity, improve access to financing and attract investment. It builds on an end-2024 strategic agreement among the stock exchanges of Bratislava, Bucharest, Budapest, Ljubljana, Skopje, Sofia, Warsaw and Zagreb with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and is framed as aligned with the European Union’s Savings and Investment Union Strategy to channel household savings and private capital into capital markets, particularly for small and medium-sized enterprises. Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Marko Primorac linked the regional initiative to Croatia’s domestic agenda, pointing to 15 government securities issuances and the adoption of a Strategic Framework for Capital Market Development by 2030, and stating that Croatia is moving into an “intensive implementation” phase.
Ministry of Finance (Croatia) 2025-08-25
Croatia's Ministry of Finance convenes eight countries to sign memorandum on capital markets regulatory alignment and integration
Croatia’s Ministry of Finance announced that finance ministers and senior officials from eight Central and South-Eastern European countries signed a Memorandum of Understanding to cooperate on developing their national capital markets through closer coordination, regulatory alignment and increased market integration. The initiative aims to enhance liquidity and build more efficient, competitive markets, improve access to financing and attract investment. Croatia’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Marko Primorac linked the regional effort to Croatia’s domestic capital market strategy to 2030 and recent government securities issuance.