At the end of April 2017, total liquid assets M4 stood at HRK 292.0bn, having risen by HRK 1.1bn or 0.4% from the end of the previous month. A review of the structure of the monetary aggregate M4 reflects that money (M1) increased from a month earlier, by 2.4%, while quasi-money decreased by 0.4%. The annual growth in M4 continued to slow down in April and, excluding the effects of the exchange rate changes, totalled 3.8%, in contrast to the 4.2% at the end of March (Figure 1). M1 continued to trend strongly upwards amid exceptionally low interest rates, primarily thanks to the increase in demand deposits. The annual growth rate of M1 thus accelerated in April to 22.7% (Figure 1). At the same time, quasi-money was 2.2% lower than at the end of the same month a year ago, primarily due to the decrease in household foreign currency deposits. April developments in the balance sheet of monetary institutions were noticeably affected by the decrease in the government's foreign currency deposit with the CNB. Namely, the foreign currency inflow from a foreign bond issue in March was used to settle the liabilities arising from a foreign bond maturing at the end of April, which at the same time caused a decrease in net foreign assets and an increase in net domestic assets amid the growth in net claims on the central government (Table 1).

Figure 1 Monetary aggregates annual rates of change	Figure 2 Placements annual rates of change based on transactions
Source: CNB.

Total placements of monetary institutions to domestic sectors (except the government) stood at HRK 222.5bn at the end of April 2017, having risen by HRK 1.7bn (0.7%) from the end of March. Placements grew in April both in the household sector and in the corporate sector. On an annual level, based on transactions, placements grew at the same pace in April as over the two previous months, by 0.8% (Figure 2). Placements to non-financial corporations grew by 0.7%, while the growth of placements to households continued to accelerate slightly, reaching 1.6%. In nominal terms, however, placements at the end of April 2017 were again lower than in the same month of the previous year (1.1%). This reflects a partial write-off of household loans indexed to the Swiss franc and the sale of non-performing placements of banks.

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

¹ The sum total of asset items 2.2. to 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 (except the 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 excluding the effects of exchange rate changes, securities price adjustments and write-off of placements, including the sale of placements in the amount of their value adjustment. Source: CNB.

Source: CNB.

For detailed information on monetary statistics as at end-April 2017, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions