ZAGREB, Feb 11 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) Council on Wednesday considered the latest economic and monetary trends and a report on the situation in the banking sector in the July-September 2003 period.
ZAGREB, Feb 11 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) Council on
Wednesday considered the latest economic and monetary trends and a
report on the situation in the banking sector in the July-September
2003 period.#L#
The session was chaired by HNB governor Zeljko Rohatinski.
Available data on the movement of prices and the stability of the
exchange rate continue to be satisfactory, which indicates that the
central bank was successful in carrying out its main task in 2003, a
trend which remained unchanged at the start of this year, the Council
said in a statement, adding that balance of payments indicators, on
the other hand, were not encouraging.
Despite last year's notable increase of exports -- 10.2 percent
according to constant prices -- the foreign trade deficit has reached
about US8 billion, according to preliminary data, which is an
increase of 38 percent from 2002. Nearly half the growth of the
foreign trade deficit was caused by exchange rate changes -- on the
annual level the U.S. dollar fell by 19.7 percent on average in
relation to the euro.
The external debt reached 23.6 billion at the end of December which,
according to the current exchange rate, was 8.2 billion higher than
at the end of 2002. Even disregarding exchange rate changes, the
external debt growth is high - 5.4 billion.
In the July-September 2003 period, the number of banks operating in
Croatia fell to 43 as a result of mergers between Rijecka banka and
Erste&Steiermaerkische and between Splitska banka and HVB Bank
Croatia. Twenty banks are owned by foreigners but their share in total
assets is about 90 percent. The market is dominated by six bank
groups, which account for 83.5 percent of total assets. Total assets
in said trimester went up 5.05 percent, loans went up 3.97 percent,
and deposits 4.76 percent.
(Hina) ha sb