Croatia's general government gross debt to GDP ratio reached 66.5% at the end of June 2023, decreasing by 5.9 percentage points from June 2022, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) said on Monday.

Compared with the first quarter of 2023, the ratio fell by 2.6 percentage points, continuing its downward movement which began in the second quarter of 2021, the central bank said in a press release.

At the end of the second quarter of this year, total consolidated general government debt stood at €47.9 billion, up by €2.3 billion or 5% from the end of June 2022. The debt growth was caused by a combination of the decline in external debt by €0.27 billion or 1.8% and the rise in internal debt by €2.54 billion or 8.3%.

As for the debt structure, 69.2% of general government debt related to internal debt and the remaining 30.8% to external debt, the HNB said.