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)

CROBEX showed signs of recovery with an increase of 4.94%, ending the month at 2,098.47 points.

The total equity turnover on the ZSE (Zagreb Stock Exchange) amounted to EUR 43.15m (HRK 326.47m), a decrease of -3.3% MoM, and an increase of 104.4% YoY. This would translate into a daily turnover of EUR 1.88m (HRK 14.19m).

The total equity value traded (excluding block transactions) in March amounted to EUR 34.4m (HRK 260.24m). Out of that, the top 10 most traded stocks had a turnover of EUR 23.6m (or HRK 178.54m), representing 68.61% of the total turnover. Breaking this down further, AD Plastik generated the most turnover, 10.12% of the entire turnover, followed by Zagrebačka Banka with 8.38%, HT with 8.26%, HPB with 8.14%, Atlantska Plovidba with 7.30%, Podravka with 7.23%, Ericsson NT with 5.38%, Valamar Riviera with 5.34%, OT-Optima Telekom with 4.46%, and Adris Grupa with 3.98%.

The main index on the ZSE, CROBEX, increased by 4.94% MoM and ended the month at 2,098.47 points. On a YoY basis, this is an increase of 12.08%. At the same time, CROBEX10 increased by 4.35% MoM, showing that both indices somewhat recovered from the loss they experienced during February.

Looking at the CROBEX10 constituents themselves, AD Plastik was hit the hardest again with a decline of 16.13%, continuing the negative trend that started after the beginning of the Russian invasion. As a reminder, AD Plastik has 27% of revenue generated in Russia, which contributed significantly to this decrease in share price. This is 2nd consecutive worst-performing month for AD Plastik since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which should not come as a surprise, due to AD Plastik operating in Russia. Besides them, all other CROBEX10 constituents experienced a month of growth. Atlantska Plovidba increased the most, growing by 15.4%, followed by Atlantic Grupa with 7.6%, Adris with 6.3%, and Podravka, with 5.4%. On the flip side, Arena Hospitality Group and Valamar Riviera increased by 0.7% and 1.9%, respectively, showing that the uncertainty around the effects of the Russian invasion on the tourism industry has a higher impact. Adris, which also partly operates in this sector experienced a stronger recovery due to their presence in the insurance and food production industries.

Performance of CROBEX10 constituents in March 2022 (%)