BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4700 HINA Zagreb, August 4

HR-BULLETIN-Politika BRIEF NEWS BULLETIN IN ENGLISH NO. 4700 HINA Zagreb, August 4 DROP IN FOREIGN CURRENCY DEPOSITS HALTEDZAGREB, Aug 4 (Hina) - A drop in foreign currency deposits which began in March as a result of the Rijecka Bank crisis was halted in May, the Croatian National Bank said earlier this week. The nominal drop of 0.3 percent is the result of the appreciation of the kuna, so that in May foreign currency deposits grew by 0.6 percent, excluding the influence of the exchange rate. The increase is primarily due to deposits made by companies. Citizens' deposits, on the other hand, continue to decline, although considerably less than in previous months. At the end of May, foreign currency deposits in business banks totalled 68.7 billion kuna (EUR9.28 billion), which was 38.5 percent more than in May 2001 but 8.2 percent less than in January 2002. Domestic currency deposits, following a drop in March and a mild increase in April, stagnated in May, amounting to 11 billion kuna