At the end of February 2022, the total deposits in Croatia amounted to HRK 366.2bn, an increase of 10.7% YoY.
The Croatian National Bank (HNB) has published its monthly consolidated statement of financial position for the monetary financial institutions. In the report, we can see that in February 2022, the total deposits in Croatia amounted to HRK 366.2bn, an increase of 10.7% YoY, and 0.02% MoM. This increase continues the positive trend of reaching all-time-highs in the deposit amounts.
Looking at the deposits by their components, on a YoY basis, the growth was driven by the increase in demand deposits, which grew by 18.6% YoY, 1% MoM, and amounted to HRK 153.88bn. Meanwhile, saving deposits also increased, growing by 5.6% YoY, but decreasing by -0.6% MoM, and amounting to HRK 212.3bn at the end of February. Breaking down the saving deposits into domestic saving deposits and foreign currency saving deposits, we can see that during February, domestic saving deposits decreased by -5.6% YoY, 4.6% MoM. This would also mean that domestic saving deposits equaled 13.8% of all saving deposits, a decrease of 57 bps MoM.
The decrease can be attributed to several factors. The switch to euro due to the expected ascension of Croatia into the euro zone, as well as the uncertainty regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which could impact the value of the local currency, thus driving people to increase their savings in „stronger“ currencies (usually the euro or the dollar). One last reason that should be mentioned is the fact that inflationary pressures are driving people to use their savings more, which would also influence this figure. Meanwhile, foreign currency saving deposits increased by 7.6% YoY, 0.1% MoM, and amounted to HRK 183bn. This would mean that out of the total, in February, they amounted to 86.2%.
Looking over to the household deposits by themselves, they had a growth of 9.2% YoY, 0.7% MoM, and amounting to HRK 249.7bn. This would also mean that 68.2% of all deposits were household deposits, representing an increase of 44 bps MoM, but a decrease of -91 bps YoY.
Deposits breakdown (HRK bn)
