Total liquid assets (M4) held steady in April 2019 and stood at HRK 316.9bn at the end of the month (Table 1). Net foreign assets (NFA) declined and net domestic assets (NDA) of the monetary system rose by almost the same amount. These changes in NFA and NDA were mostly due to a fall in the capital accounts of credit institutions, largely attributable to April dividend payments. On an annual level, the growth in total liquid assets (M4) slowed down to 4.4% in April 2019, transaction-based (Figure 1). As regards the components of total liquid assets, the annual fall in quasi-money accelerated to 1.9%, while the annual growth of money (M1) accelerated slightly and stood at 17.0% at the end of April (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 government) went up by HRK 0.8bn in April (transaction-based), ending the month at HRK 225.4bn. If observed on an annual level, the growth in total placements slowed down in April to 4.1% (Table 2), partly due to the annual slowdown in lending to non-financial corporations (0.6%^[1]), mostly as a result of the base effect. On the other side, the annual growth in household placements continued to accelerate slightly, reaching 6.8% in April. As regards the structure of household loans, the annual growth in general-purpose cash loans slowed down slightly at the end of April to 12.7%, while that of housing loans accelerated to 4.0%. As for the nominal stock of total placements, their annual growth stood at 2.4% in April and was significantly slower than the transaction-based growth, primarily as a result of the write-off of non-performing placements to the Agrokor Group made in accordance with the settlement with the creditors of that Group.

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

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

Source: CNB.

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

¹In addition to placements to households and corporates, they also include placements to the local government and other financial institutions.
²The 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 April 2019, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions

1. At the end of April 2019, the cumulative effect of the activation of government guarantees for loans to shipyards stood at 1.9 percentage points. ↑