ZAGREB, January 23, 2020 – At the end of the third quarter of 2019, Croatia’s gross foreign debt to GDP ratio amounted to 80.9%, which is 1.7 percentage points less than at the end of 2018, Croatian National Bank (HNB) data indicate.
In absolute numbers the debt increased by 1.3% compared with December 2018 and amounted to 43.3 billion euro at the end of September 2019. The HNB notes that the increase was impacted by cross-currency changes and other adjustments.
Broken down by sector, the greatest portion of the debt (39%) can be attributed to other sectors or companies.
The gross foreign debt of companies at the end of Q3, 2019 amounted to €17.1 billion. The general government’s foreign debt amounted to €14.4 billion, and accounted for 32.6% of the overall debt, while the share of dues by other monetary institutions decreased to 8.1% or €3.6 billion due to strong deleveraging over the past several years (2012 – 2018).
The increase in foreign debt in the first nine months of last year was generated by an increase in liabilities by the public sector with its gross foreign debt to foreign creditors amounting to €17.6 billion at the end of September 2019, an increase of 6.4% or €1.1 billion compared with the end of 2018.
With its debt of €14.4 billion, the government was the greatest public sector debtor, with its debt increasing by €414 million from the end of 2018 while the central bank’s debt of €2 billion was €390 million or 23.6% higher than at the end of 2018.
The non-guaranteed debt of the private sector at the end of September 2019 was slightly below the level recorded at the end of 2018 and amounted to €25.5 billion.
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