At the end of December last year, the amount of loans to companies for working capital and investments amounted to 64.9 billion kuna, which is 653 million kuna less compared to November and 798.5 million kuna less compared to the end of 2016, according to an analysis by Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA).
“However, when viewed according to currency structure, total foreign currency loans to companies – which include loans with a currency clause – with a share of about 65 percent of total loans to companies, have recorded positive annual growth rates since July last year, confirming the gradual economic recovery and growth in investments,” RBA analysts state in their review of the recently published data from the Croatian National Bank (HNB).
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Total kuna loans to non-financial companies at the end of December 2017 amounted to 22.3 billion kuna, a decrease of 2.7 percent compared to November and 7 percent compared to the end of 2016.
According to HNB data, the annual growth of placements to non-financial companies at the end of 2017 compared to the same period of the previous year was 2.6 percent, based on transactions.
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“Regarding the nominal state of placements to companies, they were 2.8 percent lower at the end of December 2017 than at the end of the same month the previous year, mostly due to the sale of non-collectible placements,” RBA analysts state.
Looking at credit categories, investment loans recorded growth on a monthly and annual basis of 2.6 and 0.6 percent, respectively, and amounted to 31.6 billion kuna at the end of December 2017.
“This category, with sporadic exceptions, has recorded positive annual growth rates since April last year,” RBA analysis states.
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On the other hand, in December, loans for working capital fell by 4.2 percent on a monthly basis and by 2.9 percent on an annual basis, to 33.3 billion kuna.
“This year, we expect that the continuation of favorable economic trends and the recovery of investments will also affect the growth in demand for loans from non-financial companies. The expected trends are supported by the record-high level of liquidity in the system, which affects the decline in interest rates on newly approved loans, certainly contributing to an increase in credit activity in the observed sector,” RBA analysts conclude.
