December 4 (SeeNews) - Erste Group said on Monday it expects Croatia to issue only one Eurobond in 2018, in the first half of the year.
Erste expect the Croatian ministry of finance to focus more on domestic market issuance and longer tenors next year, while on the international market it predicts only one Eurobond, the Austrian banking group said in a research paper on public debt in CEE.
In 2017, Croatia has issued two Eurobonds, four bonds on the domestic market and one bigger HRK FC T-bill.
Similar developments are expected in 2018, Erste noted, with Croatia's finance minister Maric having already announced that the government plans to refinance up to 3 billion euro ($3.6 billion) of debt in the first quarter.
Erste added that despite an expected rise in the structural deficit due to the stronger growth profile, lower financing needs and lower interest rate burden, it expects to see Croatia's debt figure moving towards 80% of GDP in the upcoming quarters.
In September, Erste Group said it has raised its estimates for Croatia’s economic expansion to 3.0% in 2017, from 2.7% projected in August, due to the robust domestic demand momentum and further improving external demand outlook.
The forecast for Croatia’s economic growth in 2018 has been lifted to 2.8% from 2.4%, while a 2.9% rise is expected in 2019, Erste said at the time.
($=0.843760 euro)