ZAGREB, Dec 5 (Hina) - The euro has reached a record high 7.7 kuna on the Croatian National Bank's mean rate on Thursday, while in commercial banks one euro is already selling for more than 7.8 kuna. The central bank is not panicking
since this is not an extraordinary situation at all, the head of the HNB Research Directorate, Evan Kraft, told Hina on Thursday.
ZAGREB, Dec 5 (Hina) - The euro has reached a record high 7.7 kuna on
the Croatian National Bank's mean rate on Thursday, while in
commercial banks one euro is already selling for more than 7.8 kuna.
The central bank is not panicking since this is not an extraordinary
situation at all, the head of the HNB Research Directorate, Evan
Kraft, told Hina on Thursday. #L#
Today's situation on the foreign exchange market indicates the mild
increase of the euro is continuing, Kraft said, adding that the HNB
was following market trends and if this trend continued, the
central bank was likely to intervene.
Kraft went on to say that despite the euro's moderate increase of 1-
1.5 percent in relation to the kuna over the last month, the
situation was not extraordinary but typical of the post-summer
tourist season and that it should change in a matter of days.
The depreciation of the kuna in the months following the summer, a
period when the increased foreign exchange inflow stops, is a
typical occurrence which, also typically, changes in December
because of the Christmas holidays and the foreign currency which
Croatians working abroad bring into the country.
Kraft expects the depreciation pressure on the kuna to start
abating as early as Dec. 10, after expiry of the deadline by which
banks are obliged to set aside reserve requirements so as to cover
foreign exchange liabilities. As a result, banks should be left
with smaller amounts of the domestic currency they can have on the
market, he said.
(hina) ha sb