The survey "New Europe Household Borrowing", conducted by UniCredit Group, which includes Zagrebacka Banka, shows that the financial assets of Croatian households have reached 76% of Gross Domestic Product, or 64% if the informal sector (the grey economy) is taken into account.
The New Europe average was 53% and that of the Eurozone as much as 181% of GDP.
At the same time, Croatian households' liabilities stood at 36% of GDP, or 30% with the informal sector included, while the Eurozone average was 53% and that of the New Europe 14% of GDP.
According to figures from 2005, Croatian households' financial assets amounted to EUR 5,156 on average, which put Croatia behind the Czech Republic and Hungary and ahead of Poland and Slovakia. With average liabilities of EUR 2,427, Croatia ranked second, behind Estonia and ahead of Hungary and the Czech Republic.
The share of household debt in GDP in Croatia increased four percentage points from 2000 to 2005.
Analysts at the UniCredit banking group estimated that the financial assets and liabilities of Croatian households would grow by about 12% by 2008. In the new Europe, household liabilities were expected to grow by 19% on average and financial assets by 10%.