Total loans in Croatia amounted to 242.9 billion kuna at the end of February, or 0.2 percent down from the month before. Compared to February 2017, the amount dropped by 4.8 percent, a report released by Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) said on Tuesday.

According to RBA analysts, total loans – which includes all loans to the government, local authorities, companies and individuals – are continuing to drop, in a downward trend that has been going on since November 2012.

In year-on-year terms, the total amount dropped by 12.2 billion kuna, or 4.8 percent.

“The year-on-year drop is primarily due to lower amounts of foreign currency loans, which make up some 60 percent of all loans, and they alone dropped in total value by 10.2 percent compared to the same month the year before,” analysts said.

The total value of foreign currency loans in February was 146.6 billion kuna, down by 16.6 billion kuna year-on-year.

On the other hand, the value of kuna-denominated loans at the end of February grew to 96.4 billion kuna, or 4.9 percent up from the year before.

“Kuna-denominated loans reached a 40 percent share of the overall loan value, which is an increase of 4 percentage points in only a year. The overall currency structure of loans continues to change in favour of the ones denominated in kuna, which is attributed to the drop in interest rates for local currency loans,” RBA analysts added.

Company loans have a 34 percent share of all loans and amounted to 82.8 billion kuna, down 1.1 percent from the year before, while loans issued to general population accounted for 49 percent of the total loan value, some 118.7 billion kuna, or 2 percent up year-on-year.

(€1 = 7.41 kuna)

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