ZAGREB, October 3, 2018 - At the end of the second quarter of 2018, Croatia's gross foreign debt was 40.1 billion euro, or 80% of GDP, according to central bank figures, and Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) analysts predict that the foreign debt-to-GDP ratio will fall below 80% by year's end.
Compared with Q2 2017, Croatia's foreign debt was lower by 97 million euro (-0.2%). This was due to a 4.7% decrease of other financial institutions' debt to 4.1 billion euro and a 7% decrease of other domestic sectors' debt to 13.5 billion euro, continuing an annual deleveraging trend which began in January 2016.
The central bank's debt decreased 14.4% to EUR 1.3 billion euro.
On the other hand, the central government's gross foreign debt, accounting for nearly 36% of the total foreign debt, amounted to 14.4 billion euro at the end of June 2018, an annual increase of 3.8% (+531.3 million euro). June 2018 was the second consecutive month in which the debt went up.
Compared with Q1 2018, the gross foreign debt at the end of June 2018 was lower by 500 million euro.
In 2018, we expect the annual gross foreign debt decrease to continue and relative foreign indebtedness indicators to improve on the back of decreasing indebtedness of all key sectors, RBA analysts have said, adding that, thanks to economic growth forecasts, they expect the foreign debt-to-GDP ratio to drop below 80% by the end of the year.
