Household Financial Assets Increased by €6.2 Billion in 2023

At the end of the fourth quarter of 2023, the total financial assets of households amounted to €89 billion, representing an increase of €6.2 billion or 7.4 percent over the year, announced the Croatian National Bank (HNB) on Friday.

At the same time, household financial liabilities increased to €25 billion, which is an increase of €2.1 billion or 9.5 percent over the year, according to the HNB’s press release on financial account statistics for the fourth quarter of last year.

These developments resulted in an increase in the net financial worth of the household sector to €64.4 billion or 2.7 percent higher than at the end of the previous quarter, and €4 billion or 6.7 percent higher than a year ago. Thus, the net worth of the household sector continued its gradual growth that began in the second quarter of 2022, shortly after the end of a period of accelerated growth that lasted from the second quarter of 2020 to the fourth quarter of 2021, it was emphasized.

The largest contribution to the growth of financial assets in 2023 comes from the increase in shares in pension funds and investments in debt securities, mostly bonds and treasury bills of the Ministry of Finance, but deposits remain the most significant item of household financial assets, the central bank reported.

The HNB also reported that at the end of 2023, the financial assets of the Croatian economy amounted to €444 billion, an increase of €9.1 billion in that quarter and an increase of €40.9 billion over the year.

At the same time, the financial liabilities of the Croatian economy amounted to €460 billion, having increased by €9.1 billion in the quarter and by €40.1 billion over the year.

In relation to GDP, the financial assets of the Croatian economy at the end of the fourth quarter of last year amounted to 580 percent of annual GDP, an increase of 0.2 percentage points in that quarter and a decrease of 8.9 percentage points over the year.

Furthermore, the financial liabilities of the Croatian economy decreased by 0.3 percentage points in the quarter, while they decreased by 12.6 percentage points over the year, reaching a level of 602 percent of annual GDP at the end of the fourth quarter of 2023.

– Thus, in the fourth quarter of 2023, the ratio of assets and liabilities of the Croatian economy to GDP was stabilized – stated the HNB.

The HNB also announced that at the end of the fourth quarter of last year, the total financial assets of non-financial enterprises amounted to €129 billion, which is one percent more than at the end of the previous quarter. On the other hand, the financial liabilities of non-financial enterprises amounted to €185 billion, an increase of 0.8 percent compared to the end of the third quarter of last year.

The result of these movements was a slight decrease in the net financial worth of the non-financial enterprise sector, which is in the ‘negative’ by €56.3 billion, which is 0.1 percent less than at the end of the previous quarter.