Total liquid assets (M4) stood at HRK 333.6bn at the end of January 2020, remaining at almost the same level as at the end of the previous year, brought about by the fall in net foreign assets (NFA) and a simultaneous roughly equal growth in net domestic assets (NDA), mostly due to the increase in net claims on the central government (Table 1). The fall in NFA was much sharper in January 2019 than in January 2020, due to which its annual growth at the end of January 2020 accelerated significantly. The annual growth of M4 also accelerated (to 4.4%) in the same period, since the movement of total liquid assets was significantly more unfavourable at the beginning of the previous year than at the beginning of the current year. For the same reason, the annual growth rate of money (M1) also intensified in January and reached 16.1% (Figure 1), while the decline in quasi-money slowed down moderately on an annual level to –2.2% (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) increased by HRK 0.7bn in January, their annual growth accelerating moderately to 4.3% (transaction-based, Figure 2), driven by the increase in placements to non-financial corporations, which on an annual level stood at 0.5%. At the same time, the annual growth of placements to the household sector held steady at 7.4%, the same as at the end of the previous year (Table 2). The growth of housing loans accelerated negligibly on an annual level (6.5%), while the growth of general-purpose cash loans slowed down (11.4%). The annual growth in the nominal stock of placements, totalling 2.9% in January, was lower than transaction-based growth, primarily as a consequence of the sale of non-performing corporate placements.

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

¹ The sum total of asset items 2.2 do 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 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 January 2020, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions