From August 2023 the comments on statistics, a short description of selected, recently issued statistical data in the area of monetary statistics and the non-residents sector statistics, are no longer published. They are replaced by Statistical releases.
Comments on monetary developments for January 2019
At the end of January 2019, total liquid assets (M4) stood at HRK 321.5bn, down by HRK 2.5bn or 0.8% from the end of December 2018 (Table 1). The monthly fall in this broadest monetary aggregate is a result of the strong fall in net foreign assets (NFA) of credit institutions, while the growth in net domestic assets (NDA) of the monetary system, resulting from the increase in monetary institutions’ net claims on the central government, partly softened this monthly fall. On an annual level, the growth of total liquid assets accelerated only slightly in January, to 6.2%, net of exchange rate effects (Figure 1). In the structure of M4, the growth of money (M1), as well as the annual fall in quasi-money (net of exchange rate effects), slowed down slightly.
| Figure 1 Monetary aggregates annual rates of change |
Figure 2 Placements annual rates of change based on transactions |
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| Source: CNB. |
Total placements of monetary institutions to domestic sectors (excluding the government) went up by HRK 0.4bn in January (transaction-based), ending the month at HRK 223.7bn. At the end of January the annual growth of total placements reached 4.9%, while at the end of December, for comparison, it stood at 4.4%. Such developments in total placements were facilitated by lending to non-financial corporations, which was 2.5% higher at the end of January than in the same month the year before, as well as lending to households, which increased by 6.4% in the same period (Table 2). The stronger growth of placements to households was spurred by the continued annual growth of general-purpose cash loans (12.5%) and housing loans (3.9%). As for the nominal stock of total placements, their annual growth stood at 3.3% at end-January and was significantly slower than the transaction-based growth, primarily as a result of the sale of non-performing placements.
Table 1 Summary consolidated balance sheet of monetary institutions
in billion HRK and %
The sum total of asset items 2.2 to 2.8 of Bulletin Table B1: Consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions.
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 %
In addition to placements to households and corporates, they also include placements to the local government and other financial institutions.
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 January 2019, see: