More favourable terms for taking loans have been seen as the reason for the fact that at the end of 2001, the average loan indebtedness of a Croatian citizen was 23,000 kuna, rising to some 49,000 kuna at the end of 2004.
According to the latest figures issued by the HNB, the loans approved to citizens at the end of this June totalled 69.7 billion kuna.
The indebtedness accounting to one third of GDP is still much lower than the indebtedness of the population in the European Monetary Union, but it is much higher in relation to loan indebtedness of citizens in new members of the European Union.
However, a majority of loans granted to Croatian citizens are tied to an exchange clause, which means that there is a high exchange risk.
Experts pointed out the fact that the entire loan indebtedness of the population in Croatia rose both in absolute and relative terms in the period from 2002 to 2004. The share of the loan indebtedness of citizens in GDP rose from 29.5 percent to 32.6 percent through 2004. In addition, 97 percent of loans were those granted by commercial banks.