In March 2022, total loans of Croatian financial institutions amounted to HRK 284.9bn, an increase of 3.2% YoY, and 1.1% MoM.
The Croatian National Bank (HNB) has published its monthly report on the development of the Croatian financial institutions. According to the report, as of the end of March 2022, the total loans of all financial institutions equaled HRK 284.9bn, an increase of 3.2% YoY, and 1.14% MoM.
Household loans which represent the largest segment, grew by 4.1% (or HRK 5.63bn) YoY, 0.8% (or HRK 1.12bn) MoM. Meanwhile, corporate loans grew by 5.7% YoY, 4.41% MoM, and amounted to HRK 91.8bn.
Corporate and Household Loans Growth Rate (YoY, %)
In total, loans issued to households amounted to 143.2bn. The increase was primarily driven by the increase in housing loans, which grew by HRK 5.15bn (or 8.1%) YoY, and HRK 535.6m (or 0.8%) MoM. Housing loans also constitute the largest segment of the household loans, at 48.1%, roughly the same as the month before, but an increase of 1.78 p.p. YoY. At the same time, the 2nd largest category of household loans, the consumer loans (accounting for 37.5% of total household loans), grew by 2.5% (or HRK 1.3bn) YoY, and 0.5% (or HRK 257.7m) MoM.
Meanwhile, the household loan growth was offset by the lower result of credit card loans, which decreased by HRK 769.2m (or -22.1%) YoY but experienced a slight increase of HRK 8.4m (or 0.31%) MoM. The 3rd largest category of household loans, other loans, experienced a decrease of HRK 77m (or -0.85%) YoY while increasing by HRK 161m (or 1.83%) MoM. Lastly, the 4th largest category of household loans, overdrafts on transaction accounts, decreased by HRK 42.2m (or -0.66% YoY) but grew by HRK 150.3m (or 2.43%) MoM.
What can be deduced from data? On the one side, current geopolitical situation, that is evidenced in strong inflationary pressures, is showing increasingly negative influence from month to month on the “real” value of deposited money. On the other hand, the lending risks for banks is increasing but it has still not resulted in real impact on the loan lending rate while expected growth rate of Croatian economy is expected at lower rate than at the end of 2021.
Composition of Croatian loans to households (HRKm)
