Croatia News - CroatiaPress.com

Zagreb, March 4 (CP) — Croatia’s foreign debt has grown by €3.7 billion during 2007 and stood at €32.9 billion at the end of 2007, reports the central bank (HNB).

The annual growth has been slowed down from 13.7 percent in 2006 to 12.5 percent in 2007. Also, the structure of foreign debt has changed, as well as the contribution of certain sectors to its growth.

Corporate debt has increased sharply, as companies often decided to take out loans directly abroad. Local banks have under the influence of central bank measures considerably cut their foreign obligations, while the state sector foreign debt has been unchanged since end of 2006.