In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic first appeared in the European Union. The crisis headquarters was established as a response to the prevention of the spread of infection in the Republic of Croatia. We are talking about measures prohibiting the work of a group of economic entities. The government has adopted fiscal measures to help businesses continue their operations. The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze changes in public spending and the budget of the Republic of Croatia caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result of the measures, various economic changes took place in the state budget. The closing of the fiscal year extended the tax collection period, which resulted in a decrease in tax revenues. The need to reduce budget expenditures led to a reduction in capital investments. Analysis of the data shows a large drop in economic activity resulting in the largest annual decline in GDP in history. Although Croatia has helped the situation on the labor market with a series of approved measures the overall result is still negative. The planned level of total expenditures and revenues resulted in a state budget deficit and the public debt reached the highest level in history. The coordinated implementation of the adopted measures temporarily mitigated the negative consequences of the pandemic but the decline in economic activity and the need for state support caused a drop in state income and an increase in financing needs.