HNB CONSIDERS MONETARY, ECONOMIC MOVEMENTS IN LAST THREE MONTHS

ZAGREB, Dec 5 (Hina) - The Croatian National Bank (HNB) Council on Wednesday held a session under the chairmanship of governor Zeljko Rohatinski, at which it discussed monetary and financial movements in the past three months and adopted several decisions, the bank said in a statement. Available economic indicators for this year's third quarter point to a continued growth of the Gross Domestic Product; industrial production has increased by six percent, the number of tourist overnight stays has risen by 7.8 percent and retail trade went up by 8.2 percent as against last year's third quarter. Another encouraging indicator is an increase in productivity, which has been growing at a rate of more than four percent in the past two quarters. The unemployment rate in polls has dropped from 17% in the second half of last year to 15.3% in the first half of this year. A mild increase in salaries, along with a stable rate and lower petrol prices, has helped keep inflation at a low rate - at the end of the third quarter the interannual inflation rate was 3.8% (as against 3.2% in October). Developments on the currency market in the third quarter of this year were marked by slightly higher fluctuations in the kuna rate. Following interventions by the HNB, the fluctuations were normalised and the bank will continue intervening to keep the rate's stability at a satisfactory level if necessary. The bank today also passed decisions whereby more banks were granted permits to keep the accounts of legal entities and perform financial transactions on their behalf. The number of such banks has thus increased to 26. (hina) sb rml