Comments on statistics

Published: 2/2/2017

From August 2023 the comments on statistics, a short description of selected, recently issued statistical data in the area of monetary statistics and the non-residents sector statistics, are no longer published. They are replaced by Statistical releases.

Comments on monetary developments for June 2020

Published: 31/7/2020

At the end of June, total liquid assets (M4) stood at HRK 351.2bn, up by HRK 2.0bn or 0.6% from the end of the previous month (Table 1), and the growth in money (HRK 4.2bn) outstripped the decrease in quasi-money. Moderate growth in M4 was driven by a strong growth in net foreign assets (NFA) of the monetary system and a concurrent sharp decrease in net domestic assets (NDA). Lower NDA level resulted from a drop in net claims on the central government, i.e. an increase in central government deposits with the CNB, deriving mainly from the depositing of EUR 2.0bn worth of funds generated by an eleven-year eurobond issue in the international capital market in mid-June. Following the sale of foreign exchange to the CNB by the Ministry of Finance early in June (EUR 0.3bn) and again in mid-June (EUR 1.2bn) due to the bond issue, the CNB's NFA rose sharply and the government deposited the funds raised through the sale of foreign exchange in the kuna account with the CNB. After five months of uninterrupted growth, M4 slowed down to 7.7% on an annual basis (transaction-based) in June (Figure 1). The annual growth of money (M1) edged down and stood at 18.0% at the end of June, while the annual growth rate of quasi-money halved to 1.0% due mostly to the slowdown in the growth of foreign currency deposits (transaction-based).

Figure 1 Monetary aggregates
annual rates of change based on transactions
Figure 2 Placements
annual rates of change based on transactions
Source: CNB.  

Total placements of monetary institutions to domestic sectors (excluding the central government) fell by HRK 0.2bn in June (transaction-based), ending the month at HRK 234.7bn. The decrease in placements to other financial institutions contributed the most to the monthly decline in placements in June, while placements to households and corporates recorded a positive increase. If observed on an annual level, the growth in total placements slowed down to 3.3% at the end of June (Figure 2), while the annual growth of corporate placements accelerated to 4.1%, mostly due to the waning of the part of the negative effect of the settlement between the Agrokor Group and its creditors on developments in corporates placements in June 2019 (Table 2). After a slowdown in the previous four months, the annual growth of placements to households stabilised in June at 3.7% on account of the government’s housing loans subsidy programme, and the annual growth rate of housing loans in June reached 7.1%. At the same time, the annual growth of general-purpose cash loans continued to decelerate (3.8%).

Table 1 Summary consolidated balance sheet of monetary institutions
in billion HRK and %

1 The sum total of asset items 2.2 to 2.8 of Bulletin Table B1: Consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions.
2 The sum total of liability items 2 to 5 of Bulletin Table B1: Consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions
Source: CNB.

Table 2 Placements (excluding the central government) and main components
in billion HRK and %

1 In addition to placements to households and corporates, they also include placements to the local government and other financial institutions.
2 The transactions show changes that exclude the effects of exchange rate changes, securities price adjustments, reclassification and write-off of placements, including the sale of placements in the amount of their value adjustment.
Source: CNB.

For detailed information on monetary statistics as at June 2020, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions