According to the latest data from the Croatian National Bank (HNB), bank loans at the end of August amounted to 289.1 billion kuna, showing a slight increase compared to July (0.4%).
On an annual basis, compared to August of last year, total loans recorded a decrease of 1.4 billion kuna (-0.5%) due to the deleveraging of the non-financial corporate sector and the population, while loans to the central government mitigated the decline, write RBA analysts.
Furthermore, trends in the first eight months of this year indicate a deleveraging of the household sector and a continued increase in loans to the central government, while loans to non-financial corporations returned to stagnation after a slight increase during the first four months.
Loans to non-financial corporations at the end of August amounted to 111.1 billion kuna, which is 2.8 billion kuna (2.6%) higher than at the end of 2012, but the growth was almost entirely achieved in April. Loans to the population at the end of August amounted to 128 billion kuna, which is 1.6 billion kuna less than at the end of 2012. At the same time, the amount of housing loans decreased by 1.2 billion kuna (1.9%). Loans to the central government at the end of August amounted to 38.4 billion kuna, which is 4 billion kuna (11.7%) higher than at the end of last year.
