July 17 (SeeNews) - Total loans to households in Croatia rose by 3.5% on the year and by 0.7% on the month to over 121 billion kuna ($19.2 billion/16.4 billion euro) at the end of May, the local unit of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) said on Tuesday.
Loans to households reached their highest level since January 2016, Raiffeisenbank Austria Zagreb (RBA) said in a market report.
Loans in local currency continued to grow, rising 16% year-on-year to 61 billion kuna as at the end of May.
Housing loans made up 43% of total loans to households; their value increased by 2% on the year to 52.6 billion kuna at the end of May. They were followed by cash loans with a 37.4% share and a rise in value of 9.5% year-on-year to 45 billion kuna.
RBA noted that the recovery of total lending to households in the year ahead will be modest, especially taking into account the overall indebtedness of the sector and the structural weaknesses of the labour market.
(1 euro = 7.3959 euro)