Foreign debt decreased by 0.9% from June, while compared with July 2013 it was up 0.1%.
Looking at its structure, Croatian companies owed foreign entities EUR 18.4 billion, or 40.1% of the total foreign debt, which was their highest share in foreign debt since October 2013, analysts at Raiffeiesenbank Austria said in their comment on the HNB report.
The share of the general government sector in foreign debt was 27.9%, its highest level since February 2005. Other monetary financial institutions reduced their share to 18.2%, the lowest level since May 2001.
The foreign debt of the government sector at the end of July totalled EUR 12.8 billion, up 1.1% from June, while year on year it saw a considerable increase of EUR 1.3 billion or 10.9%. In the first seven months of the year, the Croatian government's foreign debt increased by EUR 108 million, or 0.8%.
The debt was calculated using the new ESA 2010 methodology, according to which the debt of state-owned motorway operators HAC and ARZ was reclassified from "other domestic sectors" to "government sector".
"The increase in the government's foreign debt reflects the government's high needs for financing the current deficit along with repayment of due liabilities, which is for now being realised under relatively favourable terms thanks to very high international liquidity, regardless of the sub-investment rating of government securities," RBA analysts said.