Exchange rate appreciation curbed

Published: 25/7/2001

At its session held on July 25, 2001, the Council of the Croatian National Bank, chaired by Governor dr. Željko Rohatinski, adopted the monetary policy projection for the third quarter of 2001, the 2000 Annual Report of the Institute for Domestic Payments, and issued several decisions within the authority of the Croatian central bank.

The Council of the Croatian National Bank was introduced to the measures taken by the Croatian National Bank in July in order to prevent this year's more pronounced strengthening of the kuna against the euro, as well as to the outcome of these measures. Following the central bank purchase of a total of EUR 245 million from commercial banks and the government in mid July, the kuna appreciation against the euro was curbed, according to the available indicators, resulting in a mild exchange rate depreciation of 0.24 percent, if interbank exchange rate is taken into account. The CNB analysts pointed at the kuna against the euro exchange rate dichotomy recorded recently, i.e. at marked differences between the mid-point exchange rate of the Croatian National Bank and interbank exchange rate. This is a result of the mid-point exchange rate calculation by the Croatian National Bank based on the exchange rates delivered by commercial banks, which have recently been strongly effected by the buying rate for cash (commonly the lowest exchange rate), due to a significant purchase of cash from natural persons, mainly tourists.

At the Wednesday session, the Council of the Croatian National Bank approved of the proposal by the supervisory board of Krapinska štedionica d.d. Krapina to appoint Marijan Kantolić president of the management board of this savings bank. The proposal of Štedionica Zlatni vrutak d.d. Zagreb for the appointment of Mladen Petrinjak as president of the management board of this savings bank was also accepted. Dalmatinska banka d.d Zadar was given approval for the acquisition of 100 percent of voting shares in Sisačka banka d.d. Sisak.