The Croatian National Bank (CNB) is one of the institutions designated as a producer of official statistics of the Republic of Croatia (RC). The scope of activity of the CNB's statistics function covers the carrying out of statistical surveys in line with the current Programme of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia, the Annual Implementation Plans of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia and the reporting requirements of Eurostat, the European Central Bank, the International Monetary Fund and other international financial and statistical institutions. The CNB's statistical function includes the collection and processing of data from reporting units and the compiling and publishing of statistical indicators pertaining to its scope of activity, in line with the applicable international statistical standards, with the aim of achieving full comparability with the equivalent indicators of other countries.

As a member of the European System of Central Banks (ESCB), the CNB develops, produces and publishes ESCB statistics for the RC in line with the basic principles of the Public Commitment on European Statistics by the ESCB. A brief summary of the role and importance of the ESCB statistics is presented in the video "Reliable source of European statistics".

The statistics published on this page thus include statistical data pertaining to the CNB's  functions of official statistics, ESCB statistics, supervision, payment systems, and monetary policy, as well as basic statistical indicators pertaining to the scope of activity of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and the Ministry of Finance.

The Croatian Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Finance and the Croatian National Bank are the signatories to the Cooperation Agreement in the Field of National Accounts of the General Government and Associated Statistics.

As a general rule, the data published on this page are grouped by institutional sectors and financial instruments.

The Croatian National Bank uses the ESA 2010 standard for all its official statistics and ESCB statistics, which implies sectoral classification of the reporting units and their counterparties in accordance with the Decision on the statistical classification of institutional sectors, published by the Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS). This classification by sectors is based on the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010), a mandatory statistical standard of the European Union, and is aligned with the basic international statistical standard – the System of National Accounts (SNA 2008).

The non-financial corporations sector consists of public non-financial corporations, national private non-financial corporations and foreign controlled non-financial corporations. Non-financial corporations consist of institutional units which are independent legal entities and market producers, whose principal activity is the production of goods and/or non-financial services.

The financial corporations sector is subdivided into the following subsectors: monetary financial institutions, other financial corporations, insurance corporations and pension funds.

Monetary financial institutions consist of the central bank and other monetary financial institutions. The central bank is the Croatian National Bank. Other monetary financial institutions consist of deposit-taking corporations except the central bank and money market funds. Deposit-taking corporations except the central bank are credit institutions (banks, savings banks and housing savings banks). Credit institutions are institutions authorised by the Croatian National Bank under the Credit Institutions Act. The credit institutions sector also includes branches of foreign credit institutions in the Republic of Croatia but does not include banks undergoing liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings. Money market funds include all financial corporations and quasi-corporations, except those classified in the central bank and in the credit institutions subsector, which are principally engaged in financial intermediation. Their business is to issue investment fund shares or units and make investments primarily in short-term debt instruments, deposits and money market fund shares or units. Their investment objective is to maintain the principal of the fund and generate yield in accordance with interest rates on money market instruments.

Other financial corporations consist of investment funds other than money market funds, other financial intermediaries, financial auxiliaries and captive financial institutions and money lenders.

Non-money market investment funds consist of all forms of collective investment schemes, except those classified in the money market funds subsector, which are principally engaged in financial intermediation. Their business is to issue investment fund shares or units which are not close substitutes for deposits and, on their own account, to make investments primarily in long-term financial assets.

Other financial intermediaries are institutions which are principally engaged in financial intermediation by incurring liabilities in forms other than currency, deposits, and close substitutes for deposits. They include leasing companies, factoring corporations, banks undergoing liquidation or bankruptcy proceedings, credit unions, etc.

Financial auxiliaries are institutions which are principally engaged in auxiliary financial activities and include, for instance, stock exchanges, exchange offices, financial regulatory authorities, insurance agents and brokers, investment firms, investment and pension fund management companies, the Central Depository and Clearing Company (CDCC), the Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (HANFA), the Financial Agency (FINA), etc.

Captive financial institutions and money lenders include all financial corporations and quasi-corporations which are neither engaged in financial intermediation nor in providing financial auxiliary services and where most of their assets or their liabilities are not transacted on open markets. Insurance corporations consist of all financial corporations and quasi-corporations, which are principally engaged in financial intermediation as a consequence of the pooling of risks mainly in the form of direct insurance or reinsurance.

Pension funds consist of all financial corporations and quasi-corporations, which are principally engaged in financial intermediation as a consequence of the pooling of social risks and needs of the insured persons (social insurance). Pension funds as social insurance schemes provide income in retirement, and often benefits for death and disability.

The general government sector consists of institutional units which are non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and are financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth.

It consists of the following subsectors: central government, state government, local government and social security funds. The central government consists of state administration bodies (ministries, offices of the Government of the Republic of Croatia, state administration organisations and state administration offices in counties), Croatian Motorways (from January 2008), Rijeka – Zagreb Motorway, Croatian Roads, Croatian Waters, Croatian Radiotelevision, Croatian Railways Infrastructure, Croatian Energy Market Operator (HROTE), Croatian Agency for SMEs, Innovations and Investments (HAMAG-BICRO), Croatian Energy Regulatory Agency (HERA), the State Agency for Deposit Insurance and Bank Rehabilitation (DAB) and the Croatian Bank for Reconstruction and Development (HBOR).

Social security funds include the Croatian Pension Insurance Institute, the Croatian Health Insurance Fund and the Croatian Employment Service. Local government includes units of local and regional self-government and institutional units established and controlled by the local government. There is no state government subsector in the Republic of Croatia.

The households sector primarily consists of individual consumers but also of individual consumers and entrepreneurs (market producers). This sector also includes individuals or groups of individuals as producers of goods and non-financial services for exclusively own final use.

The non-profit institutions serving households sector consists of non-profit institutions which are separate legal entities, which serve households and which are private non-market producers. Their principal resources are voluntary contributions in cash or in kind from households in their capacity as consumers, from payments made by government and from property income.

The rest of the world sector is a grouping of units without any characteristic functions and resources; it consists of non-resident units insofar as they are engaged in transactions with resident institutional units, or have other economic links with resident units. Its accounts provide an overall view of the economic relationships linking the national economy with the rest of the world. The institutions of the EU and international organisations are included. The rest of the world sector includes all foreign natural and legal persons.

Exceptionally, for the reporting dates until November 2010, the sector classification of institutional units in tables presenting monetary and credit aggregates, the consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions, the balance sheet of the Croatian National Bank, the consolidated balance sheet of credit institutions, and credit institutions' interest rates is based on the sector classification under the Decision on the Chart of Accounts for Banks, and data were based on the reporting system in accordance with the Decision relating to the bank statistical report.

In tables where there is a breakdown into kuna and foreign currency items, foreign currency items also include kuna items indexed to a foreign currency. Foreign currency stock items are reported in their kuna equivalent at the CNB’s midpoint exchange rate at the end of the reporting period, while foreign currency flow items are reported in their kuna equivalent at the CNB’s average exchange rate for the reporting period.