August 21 (SeeNews) - Total loans granted to companies in Croatia for working capital and investment rose by 1.0% on the year and by 1.% on the month to 65.7 billion kuna ($10.2 billion/8.8 billion euro) at the end of June, the local unit of Raiffeisen Bank International said.
The annual growth rate was primarily supported by a rise in foreign currency loans, which made up 66.1% of total loans, Raiffeisenbank Austria Zagreb (RBA) said in a market report.
Foreign currency loans expanded 5.4% on the year and 1.4% on the month to 43.4 billion kuna. Loans in the local currency dropped 6.4% compared to end-June last year, but gained 0.2% on the month to 22.3 billion kuna.
Looking at the types of loans, investment loans rose 0.7% month-on-month in June and increased 1.3% year-on-year, reaching 31.6 billion kuna, while working capital loans expanded 1.3% on the month and 0.8% on the year to 34.1 billion kuna.
RBA noted it expects loans to companies to continue growing given the forecast favourable economic trends and recovery of investments.
(1 euro=7.43174 kuna)