November was the first month in 2009 that bank lending to the non-banking sector picked up slightly, with a significant portion of loan growth referring to state-owned companies, while household loans stagnated, the Croatian National Bank (HNB) reported earlier this week.
Lending to the non-banking sector went up by HRK 3.5 billion or 1.5 percent,amounting to HRK 231.4 billion.
Even though more than half the increase was a result of exchange ratechanges, this was the first case of credit activity picking up in 2009, HNBanalysts say in the bank's latest bulletin.
Nevertheless, when analysed on the annual level and without the effect ofexchange rate changes, total lending at the end of November was still 1 percentdown from the same month of 2008.
The monthly loan growth referred almost entirely to corporate loans, whichgrew 2.2 percent, or 1.2 percent if the effect of exchange rate fluctuations isdisregarded. A significant share of the loan growth was owing to foreigncurrency loans granted to state-owned companies, the HNB says.
Meanwhile, household loans stagnated both on the monthly and on the annuallevel.
Such developments marked the entire year 2009, with the slowdown in creditactivity affecting also the real sector.
Household loans at the end of November amounted to slightly more than HRK123 billion, down by 0.3 percent or HRK 383 million from November 2008.
