At the end of May, total liquid assets (M4) stood at HRK 349.2bn, up by HRK 4.5bn or 1.3% from the end of the previous month (Table 1). Money (M1) rose nominally by approximately the same amount while quasi-money held steady. The increase in M4 was fuelled by a sharp increase in net domestic assets (NDA) while net foreign assets decreased. The increase in NDA was due the CNB’s repurchase of government securities worth nominally HRK 9.5bn, which increased monetary institutions’ net claims on the central government. On an annual level, M4 recorded accelerated growth for the fifth consecutive month, with the annual growth rate in May reaching 8.3% (transaction-based). The annual growth rate of money (M1) accelerated to 18.2% (Figure 1) and that of quasi-money to 2.1% as a result of a smaller fall in kuna non-monetary deposits (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) fell by HRK 0.4bn in May, with their annual growth rate decelerating to 3.8% (transaction-based, Figure 2). This was due to the slowdown in the annual growth of household placements, which was particularly evident in the March to May period that also witnessed the first fall in household placements on a monthly level in the past three years. As a result, the annual growth in household placements fell to 3.7% at the end of May, which is half the growth recorded at the end of February (Table 2). The dynamics of developments in household placements mostly reflects the developments in general purpose cash loans whose growth slowed down to 4.7% in May (from 10.9% at the end of February) while housing loans grew at a slightly accelerated rate (6.2%). The annual growth in corporate placements also slowed down and stood at 3.6% in May. This growth continued to be negatively affected by a decline in claims on the Agrokor Group in the middle of the previous year and to a lesser extent by the activation of government guarantees issued to shipyards, which were estimated to stand at a little over 2 percentage points in May.

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 (excluding 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 May 2020, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions