At its session today, the Croatian National Bank Council examined recent monetary and economic developments and financial stability analysis, and was briefed on the state of the banking system and its performance indicators for nine months of the last year. The CNB Council also made a few decisions pertaining to the area of its responsibility.

Economic activity continued to grow in the last quarter of 2017, but at a slower rate than earlier in the year. At the same time, the labour market recorded a further fall in unemployment and a prominent quarterly increase in employment. Consumer prices fell by 0.3% on a monthly level in December, primarily due to the seasonal decrease in the prices of clothing and footwear, while annual inflation stood at 1.2%. In December and early January, the CNB purchased foreign exchange from the banks, easing appreciation pressures on the kuna and further increasing the already high kuna liquidity of domestic credit institutions. In such circumstances interest rates on bank loans continued to decrease gradually. Placements to corporates and households accelerated slightly in December on an annual level, while credit institutions' placements to the central government fell considerably following the repayment of road companies' loans. The net external debt of the domestic sectors rose in October and November, following a sharp decline during the summer months. Available fiscal data for the second half of 2017 suggest that favourable trends in public finances continued, with the general government balance having improved and the general government debt to GDP ratio being reduced.

The CNB Council agreed with the decision of the Supervisory Board of Kreditna banka Zagreb d.d. on the reappointment of Boris Zadro as the President and Nataša Jakić Felić as a Member of the Management Board of that bank and with the proposal of the Supervisory Board of Primorska banka d.d. Rijeka to appoint Mario Pilat as the President of the Management Board of that bank.