Every five years, the Croatian National Bank conducts the so called "benchmark revision" of the methodology for financial accounts calculation. The purpose of the revision is to achieve greater accuracy, fuller scope and better alignment of statistical indicators with international statistical standards. During revision, previously released indicators are aligned with the new methodology and standards and the existing sources of data and methods for their calculation are improved.

The 2024 revision of financial accounts statistics delivers improved data sources and calculation methods used by the CNB in the process of producing statistical indicators of financial accounts, financial assets and liabilities. The revised time series were released on 25 October 2024, along with the regular release of data for the second quarter of 2024 to coincide with the release of the revised historical data on the gross domestic product (GDP) in the framework of the so called "major revision" of the national accounts of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics (CBS).

The most important methodological improvements introduced by this revision include:

1. inclusion of the loans of credit card companies in the calculation of indicators for the instrument F4 – Loans;
2. improved coverage of entities in the sector S126 – Financial auxiliaries;
3. a change in the methodology for the calculation of indicators for the sector S11 – Non-financial corporations;
4. a new method for the estimate of cash in circulation after the introduction of the euro at the beginning of 2023.

Other changes pertain to regular corrections and additions to the existing data sources.

This revision of the financial accounts statistics indicators will not have a major impact on the financial assets and liabilities of institutional sectors. Thus, for the 2013 – 2022 period, the average annual increase in financial assets amounts to EUR 5bn and in liabilities and capital of the domestic economy EUR 7.7bn, which, in percentage terms, is an average increase of 1.5% on the assets side and 2.1% on the liabilities and capital side per year.

By adding the loans of credit card companies to the calculation of indicators for the instrument AF4 – Loans, the financial assets of the sub-sector S125 – Other financial intermediaries on average increased by EUR 448m at the level of the entire series. On the side of liabilities, this leads to an average increase in household sector liabilities of EUR 395m annually at the level of the whole time series of revised data, and by EUR 612m at the end of 2023, which is an increase of about 2.68%. At the same time, in the non-financial corporate sector, this increase is less pronounced and only amounted to EUR 63m or 0.26% at the end of 2023, reflecting a much larger focus of credit card companies' lending on the household sector.

The improved coverage of entities in the sector S126 – Financial auxiliaries resulted in the average increase in total financial assets of the sector by EUR 308m (107%) annually, while total financial liabilities recorded an average annual increase of EUR 262m (72%) at the level of the revised data series. Relative to the total financial assets and liabilities of the domestic economy, financial assets and liabilities on average increased 0.1% annually, so that the impact of this revision is materially irrelevant, although it significantly improves the quality of the calculated indicators for the sector S126 – Financial auxiliaries.

The changes in the methodology for the calculation of indicators of the sector S11 – Non-financial corporations refer to the reclassifications of the individual items of the annual financial statements of these corporations from the instrument AF4 – Loans to the instrument AF81 – Trade credits. At the level of the revised data series, this has resulted in the average annual decrease in granted loans (AF4) from the sector S11 by 37% and the average annual increase of granted trade credits (AF81) from the sector S11 of 29%. This has also resulted in the decrease in total liabilities of received loans (AF4) of the sector S11 on average by 11% annually and the increase in total liabilities on trade credit (AF81) by 29%. Another change in the methodology for the calculation of indicators for the sector S11 – Non-financial corporations is the new calculation of the stocks and transactions in the segment of equity (AF5L). The new calculation of transactions is based on the changes in share capital, and data on non-residents' investments in real estate in the RC were added to the balances. The conducted revisions resulted in the average annual increase in the total capital of non-financial corporations by 6.3% at the level of the whole series.

The estimate of the balance of cash in circulation in the RC outside banks after the introduction of the euro was also revised. This revision only refers to 2023 and it has increased the estimate of cash held by non-financial corporations and households.

The effects on financial assets and liabilities are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Impact of revision on selected components of financial accounts statistics, 2013 – 2023