The global economic crisis had a significant impact on the fiscal stance of local government units. The literature discusses this issue by explaining that financial crises change budget decisions of central state authorities towards the financing of those priorities which could improve the economic situation at national level. The impact of the change in national government’s decisions influences local government units differently depending on the level of their fiscal autonomy. Investments at the local level are below pre-crisis levels in most European Union countries. This article analyzes the impact of the financial crisis on the fiscal imbalance showing that there is a lack of financial resources for investments. Due to fiscal constraints and annual borrowing limits of regional and local public administration authorities, the affordability of projects and investments is limited. Furthermore, the article analyzes the obstacles to investments at local level in Croatia, a country belonging to the group of European Union Member States which was hit hardest by the crisis and experienced a larger drop in investments. The results of the survey conducted among members of regional assemblies have been analyzed with respect to the level of local development and other factors enabling to identify more precisely the obstacles to investment.

中文翻译：

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经济危机的影响和地方一级的投资障碍

全球经济危机对地方政府部门的财政立场产生了重大影响。文献通过解释金融危机改变了中央国家当局的预算决定，向那些可以改善国家一级经济状况的优先事项提供资金，来讨论这一问题。中央政府决策变更的影响取决于地方政府的财政自治程度，对地方政府部门的影响不同。在大多数欧盟国家中，地方一级的投资低于危机前的水平。本文分析了金融危机对财政失衡的影响，表明缺乏用于投资的金融资源。由于地区和地方公共行政当局的财政限制和年度借款限制，项目和投资的承受能力有限。此外，该文章分析了克罗地亚在地方一级进行投资的障碍，该国属于欧洲联盟成员国集团，该国受危机打击最严重，投资下降幅度更大。对区域议会成员之间进行的调查的结果已就地方发展水平和其他因素进行了分析，这些因素能够更准确地确定投资障碍。