In 2016, the largest slashing in absolute terms was made by other monetary financial institutions, down by 1.6 billion euros. followed by other domestic sectors (down by 1.1 billion euros), whereas the general government slashed its foreign debt by 1.1. billion euros, too, and the central bank by 0.3 billion euros.
The only segment to see an increase in this kind of debt was direct investments (up by 0.3 billion euros).
The fall in the country's gross external debt was on the back of the continued deleveraging. For instance, other monetary financial institutions' gross foreign debt went down in December 2016 by 25.7% year-on-year, falling for the 56th month in a row. The main reason for the deleveraging of the banking sector lies in the circumstances of high liquidity of the domestic market and restrained borrowing by the corporate and household sectors, according to the HGK explanation.
Despite positive trends in gross external debt, Croatia is still highly indebted country, the HGK warns.
For the sake of comparison, Romania's gross external debt-to GDP ratio was 54.6% last year, while Bulgaria's ratio stood at 72.2%, Poland ( 74.6%), the Czech Republic (74.8%), Slovakia (91.1%), Hungary (96.1%) and Slovenia (109% )