ZAGREB, Sept 6 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) Council decided Wednesday to begin with the next, previously announced phase of the unification of the obligatory reserve, which is also aimed at unifying currency earmarked for
the obligatory reserve of business banks within the HNB. This will be done gradually. The pace of further increasing part of the obligatory reserve, which is accounted on the foreign exchange basis and earmarked in the domestic currency, will be established later, depending on the realisation of monetary policy projections and goals, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday. The basis for accounting the obligatory reserve consists of two parts, domestic and foreign currency. The amounts of the two are accounted by applying a uniform rate of 22 percent. A minimum of 40 percent of the accounted amount is placed on HNB accounts, while a maximu
ZAGREB, Sept 6 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) Council
decided Wednesday to begin with the next, previously announced
phase of the unification of the obligatory reserve, which is also
aimed at unifying currency earmarked for the obligatory reserve of
business banks within the HNB.
This will be done gradually. The pace of further increasing part of
the obligatory reserve, which is accounted on the foreign exchange
basis and earmarked in the domestic currency, will be established
later, depending on the realisation of monetary policy projections
and goals, the central bank said in a statement on Thursday.
The basis for accounting the obligatory reserve consists of two
parts, domestic and foreign currency. The amounts of the two are
accounted by applying a uniform rate of 22 percent. A minimum of 40
percent of the accounted amount is placed on HNB accounts, while a
maximum of 60 percent may be maintained by average daily financial
positions on banks' accounts.
In August, foreign reserves amounted to 15.582 billion kuna, three
times the amount of the kuna reserves.
The inclusion of 20 percent of foreign obligatory reserves would
increase the domestic currency obligatory reserve from 4.978
billion to 8.094 billion kuna.
If the current earmarking and maintenance percentages are
retained, the obligatory reserve part earmarked in kunas would
increase by 2.205 billion, or 1.102 billion in September.
Maintenance would increase by 912 million, or 456 million in
September.
The 3.1 billion increase in the amount of obligatory reserves in
kunas would increase the demand for the domestic currency, which
would affect the stabilisation of the kuna exchange rate.
The HNB Council also changed some interest rates and compensations
for the central bank, decreasing the rate at which the HNB pays
compensation for earmarked funds from the kuna obligatory reserve
from 3.5 to 2 percent, and increasing the collateral credit
interest rate from 9.5 to 10.5 percent.
($1 = 8.6 kuna)
(hina) ha sb