At its regular session today, the Croatian National Bank Council reviewed the latest economic and monetary developments and adopted a monetary policy projection for the second quarter of the year.

The Council also adopted a decision to reduce the CNB interest rate on banks' overnight deposits from the current 0.25% to 0.00%. This was motivated by the fact that, in the wake of ample liquidity of the banking system and weak private sector lending, banks have deposited increasingly large amounts of surplus funds with the central bank (currently exceeding 10 billion kuna). The decision is also intended to encourage banks to channel these funds into placements.

The Council approved the proposals of the supervisory boards of several banks for appointments to these institutions' management boards: Gian Luigi Bonfé was reappointed as president and Darko Kosovac as a member of the Management Board of Banka Kovanica d.d., Varaždin; the terms of office of Brane Golubić as a member of the Management Board of Hypo Alpe-Adria Bank d.d., Zagreb was extended; Gabriele Pace and Andrea Pavlović were reappointed as members of the Management Board of Privredna banka d.d., Zagreb; Gordana Amanćić was appointed as a member of Management Board of HPB Stambena štedionica d.d., Zagreb; Katarina Šobat was reappointed as president and Marija Posavec as a member of the Management Board of Prva stambena štedionica d.d., Zagreb.

A decision was also adopted that the kuna and lipa coins with mint year 2013 would be released into circulation on 22 April 2013.