The Governor of the Croatian National Bank (HNB), Boris Vujcic, said at an economic conference in Opatija on Wednesday that the process of disinflation in Croatia was underway, but that it could not yet be said that inflation had been defeated, as it persisted, especially in the service sector.

In response to questions from reporters, Vujcic said that the inflation rate had been falling steadily since the end of 2022. “Nevertheless, we cannot declare inflation defeated yet, because it is still resilient, especially in the service sector. It remains to be seen whether it will fall in the coming months,” said the governor.

Consumer credit on the rise

When asked about consumer credit, which has increased, and whether people who take out too many loans are at risk of going bankrupt and whether the HNB will do anything about it, Vujcic said that he saw no reason for new measures at the moment, but that they would be taken if necessary.

“The HNB has already instructed banks to treat consumer loans to households as housing loans if they have a maturity of five years or more, which is what the banks are currently doing, i.e. they are taking care of everything they do when granting housing loans. For other consumer loans with a term of less than five years, they can continue to treat these loans as they do now,” he said.