Total liquid assets (M4) decreased by HRK 0.3bn (0.1%) in April, reaching HRK 344.7bn at the end of the month (Table 1). This was a result of the decrease in net domestic assets (NDA), while net foreign assets (NFA) increased mildly. The monthly decrease in NDA was a consequence of the decline in placements to households and corporates, while net claims on the central government grew due to the rise in the government's borrowing with banks. The CNB's foreign exchange interventions continued to affect the NFA structure. The central bank's NFA decreased in April^[1], while at the same time the NFA of credit institutions increased. On an annual level, after having strongly accelerated in March, the growth of M4 additionally mildly accelerated in April, to 7.8% (transaction-based). This was aided by the acceleration in the annual growth of money (M1) to 17.7% (Figure 1) and quasi-money to 1.8% (transaction-based).

Figure 1 Monetary aggregates annual rates of change based on transactions	Figure 2 Placements annual rates of change based on transactions
Source: CNB.

Total placements of monetary institutions to domestic sectors (excluding the central government) decreased by HRK 1.5bn in April, their annual growth decelerating to 4.6% (transaction-based, Figure 2.). The annual growth of placements to households slowed down to 4.5% (Table 2), predominantly due to the slowdown in the annual growth of general-purpose cash loans (6.5%) and to a lesser degree due to the slowdown in the growth of housing loans (6.1%). With regard to corporations, after accelerating noticeably in March, the annual growth of placements to corporations slowed down slightly in April, to 4.0%. The April annual growth in the nominal stock of placements (4.4%) continued to be lower than transaction-based growth, primarily as a consequence of the sale of non-performing corporate placements.

Table 1 Summary consolidated balance sheet of monetary institutions
in billion HRK and %

¹ The sum total of asset items 2.2 do 2.8 of Bulletin Table B1: Consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions.
² The sum total of liability items 2 to 5 of Bulletin Table B1: Consolidated balance sheet of monetary financial institutions.
source: CNB.

Table 2 Placements (excluding central government) and main components
in billion HRK and %

¹ 1 In addition to placements to households and corporates, they also include placements to the local government and other financial institutions.
² The transactions show changes that exclude the effects of exchange rate changes, securities price adjustments, reclassification and write-off of placements, including the sale of placements in the amount of their value adjustment.
Source: CNB.

For detailed information on monetary statistics as at April 2020, see:

Central bank (CNB)
Other monetary financial institutions

1. A foreign exchange intervention in the form of an auction, conducted on the last day of March and totalling EUR 618.15m, affected monetary aggregates in April since settlement was on 2 April 2020. ↑