Total household loans in Croatia in August accelerated their growth on the year from 4.3% to 4.6%, with housing loans continuing to increase from 10.6% to 10.8%, according to data provided by the Croatian National Bank (HNB) on Friday.

Total lending by monetary institutions to domestic sectors (apart from the central government) in August fell by HRK 500 million or 0.2% compared to July and at the end of August they amounted to HRK 241.1 billion, the HNB reported.

The annual growth rate of total placements remained at 4.1%, the same as in July.

Total loans, which account for the majority of total placements, fell by HRK 400 million or 0.2% on the month, with loans to the business sector contracting by HRK 700 million or 0.8% and loans to other financial institutions falling by HRK 100 million or 0.6%.

On the other hand, household loans increased by HRK 300 million or 0.2%.

Year-on-year, housing loan growth accelerated from 10.6% to 10.8%, and the growth of cash loans increased from 0.6% to 0.8%, leading to accelerated growth in household loans from 4.3% to 4.6%.

Total household deposits up by HRK 37 billion on the year

Total deposits amounted to HRK 359 billion, HRK 8.6 billion or 2.5% up from July, whereas on the year they increased by HRK 37 billion or 11.5%.

Household deposits amounted to HRK 238.3 billion, up HRK 3.3 billion or 1.1% on the month and by HRK 19 billion or 8.6% on the year, the HNB reported.

(€1 = HRK 7.491380)