In January 2009, the unrevised data of the Croatian National Bank show that Croatian banks reached a net profit of 439,9 million kn. In comparison to January 2008, this is 39.9 % higher when the banks’ profits amounted to 314,5 million kn.

Although we cannot assess from this report the breakup of the revenue, unpaid interest rates and reimbursements, we can come to a conclusion that, in spite of the crisis, banks are continue to do record levels of business. The amount of approved loans grew from 246,7 billion kn (end December) to 250 billion kn (end January 2009.) As expected, the increase is a consequence of the loans given to the state. In only one month, loans toward the state grew by 2,5 billion kn, reaching a total of 14,8 billion kn. The data that confirms low levels of solvency in state companies is that of the outstanding debts toward the banks in a form of the interest rate claims. The amount of outstanding debt owed by state companies at the end of January 2008 was 22,8 billion kn, while the amount is almost 10 times larger at the end of January 2009, totaling 211,4 billion kn including interest. In the same period, the amount of loans given to state companies increased from 8 to 8,9 billion kn, which means that the increase in the amount of outstanding debt is not dependant on the amount of the loan itself but on the amount of interest rate claims. The amount of outstanding debts also grew in the individual loan sector. However, these levels are not even closely comparable to the state companies’ debt. The amount of interest rate claims towards individuals at the end of January 2008 was 32 million kn lower than the amount in January 2009, which totaled 188 million kn. The total assets of the Croatian banks grew in one year by 13.3 %, reaching somewhat less than 380 billion kn. In the same period, total deposits grew by 20 billion kn to 249,7 billion.