ZAGREB, April 18 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt is setting new records, having exceeded US$16.5 billion at the end of February, the national bank said on Friday.
ZAGREB, April 18 (Hina) - Croatia's foreign debt is setting new
records, having exceeded US$16.5 billion at the end of February,
the national bank said on Friday. #L#
Nominally this was eight percent ($1.2 bln) more than at the end of
last year.
Of said increase, about 35 percent ($430 mln) is the result of
exchange rate differences, i.e. the depreciation of the U.S. dollar
in relation to the euro. About 70 percent of Croatia's entire
foreign debt is denominated in euros, while the debt is stated in
U.S. dollars.
The state is the main generator of the foreign debt increase, with a
share of 48.3 percent, followed by banks, whose share is 22.4
percent, and companies with 21.8 percent.
The foreign debt at the end of last year -- $15.2 billion --
accounted for 68.1 percent of Gross Domestic Product. Comparing the
foreign debt at the end of February with last year's GDP ($22.4
bln), the share of the foreign debt in the GDP has jumped to 73.6
percent.
The state's foreign debt at the end of February nominally grew by
$594 million from December, amounting to $6.95 billion and
accounting for 42.1 percent of the entire debt.
In February the government issued EUR500 million worth of bonds on
the European financial market under the most favourable conditions
so far.
Banks nominally increased their foreign debt by $276 million to a
total of $4.25 billion, accounting for 25.7 percent of the total
debt.
The foreign debt incurred by companies from late December to late
February nominally rose by $268 million to $4.17 billion,
accounting for 25.3 percent of the entire debt.
Direct investments account for 6.9 percent, or $1.13 billion, of
the foreign debt.
(hina) ha sb