Total liquid assets (M4) rose by HRK 2.4bn (0.7%) in February 2020 and stood at HRK 336.0bn at the end of the month (Table 1). The monthly increase in this broadest monetary aggregate was driven by the growth in net domestic assets (NDA) resulting from an increase in placements and net claims on the central government. By contrast, net foreign assets (NFA) remained almost unchanged. On an annual level, the growth in M4 continued to accelerate and stood at 5.7% in February (transaction-based), partly driven by more unfavourable monthly developments in total liquid assets in February of the previous year. The annual growth of money (M1) also continued to intensify, reaching 18.8% in February (Figure 1), while the fall in quasi-money on an annual level slowed down slightly to –1.8% (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 central government) increased by HRK 2.3bn in February, their annual growth accelerating to 4.8% (transaction-based, Figure 2), driven by the increase in placements to non-financial corporations, which on an annual level accelerated to 1.4%. By contrast, the annual growth of placements to households slowed down slightly to 7.3% (Table 2), driven by a slowdown in the annual growth of general-purpose cash loans (10.9%), while the growth of housing loans accelerated to 6.7%. The annual growth in the nominal stock of placements in February (3.5%) continued to be smaller than transaction-based growth, primarily as a consequence of the sale of non-performing corporate placements.

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

¹ The sum total of asset items 2.2 do 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.²
Source: CNB.

Table 2 Placements (excluding 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 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 February 2020, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions