ZAGREB, Jan 16 (Hina) - Total deposits with commercial banks in Croatia reached 271.8 billion kuna at the end of November 2017, an increase of 2.6% over the same period in 2016, Raiffeisenbank Austria (RBA) says in a report, citing figures from the Croatian National Bank (HNB).
Compared with October 2017, total deposits, which include demand, savings and time deposits, fell by 2.1 billion kuna, or 0.8%.
The value of demand deposits was 69.7 billion kuna at the end of November 2017, or 0.3% higher than in October 2017, while compared with November 2016 it increased by 22.6%.
Of the total amount of demand deposits, 33.2 billion kuna (47.6%) was held by households and 29.5 billion kuna (42%) by non-financial companies. Both categories recorded annual growth rates of above 22%, reflecting a continued fall in interest rates on savings and time deposits in Croatia and the euro area, RBA said.
RBA said that the fall in interest rates on deposits was a direct consequence of very high annual liquidity, which in turn was a result of the expansionary monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB) and the HNB.
Similar trends are expected to continue as the ECB plans to keep interest rates low this year as well, RBA said.
Kuna savings and time deposits recorded an annual decline of 2.4% to 34.9 billion kuna, while foreign currency savings and time deposits, which account of 82.7% of the total savings and time deposits, dropped by 2.9% to 167 billion kuna.
The decrease was partly due to the slight strengthening of the kuna against the euro, given that foreign currency deposits are predominantly euro-denominated, RBA said.
