At the end of 2020, Croatia's gross external debt totaled €40.6 billion or 82.7 percent of the country's GDP, up 0.4 percentage points from the end of September, the central bank said on Wednesday.

The increase is attributed to the sharp drop in nominal GDP. Gross external debt decreased by €0.7bn in the fourth quarter of 2020. The debt of the central bank dropped the most – by €1.0bn – due to a decrease in the volume of repo transactions.

Other domestic sectors, in particular private non-financial corporations, also reduced their debt, including liabilities to affiliated creditors, by €5bn.

In contrast, an increase was seen in debt of credit institutions (€0.6bn) and the government (€0.3bn) due to borrowing.

In 2020 overall, gross external debt decreased in nominal terms due to a favorable impact of exchange rates and “other statistical adjustments,” the central bank said. The debt-to-GDP ratio increased from 75.3 percent of GDP at the end of 2019 to 82.7 percent of GDP at the end of 2020.

At the end of 2019, gross external debt was €40.9 billion.