Total bank lending to domestic companies - excluding the central government - increased by 4 billion kuna in March, with the year-on-year growth rate in loans accelerating from 4 percent to 5 percent, state agency Hina said on Friday, citing a report released by the central bank.

Corporate loans increased by 3.7 billion kuna or 6.7 percent, and household loans by 900 million kuna, while loans to other domestic sectors decreased by 400 million kuna. In the structure of household loans, housing loans and general-purpose cash loans continued to increase, both by 300 million kuna.

The year-on-year growth rates of both housing and general-purpose loans remained at previous month’s level, at 8.0 percent and 3.4 percent respectively, so household loans accelerated only slightly, from 4.4 percent in February to 4.5 percent in March. On the other hand, corporate loans accelerated considerably, from 2.4 percent in February to 6.7 percent in March.

Hina did not offer any interpretation of these figures.

(€1 = 7.55 kuna)