Croatia's Financial Dynamics: Pension Fund Growth amidst Citizen Debt Concerns

As Croatia witnesses a robust rise in pension fund assets, concerns over citizen and business debts call for a multidimensional understanding of the country's economic health.

Published April 28, 2024 - 00:04am

7 minutes read
Croatia
https://www.tportal.hr/media/thumbnail/800x600/2262316.jpeg?cropId=0

Image recovered from tportal.hr

Zbog odlaska u mirovinu ili smrti, u ožujku 2024. prestalo je članstvo za 1.000 osiguranika.

U ožujku su ukupni neto doprinosi uplaćeni u obvezne mirovinske fondove iznosili 116,2 milijuna eura, a ukupni iznosi isplata po zatvaranju osobnih računa iz svih OMF-ova 15,6 milijuna eura ili 0,9 milijuna eura manje u odnosu na prethodni mjesec.

Po podacima Hanfe, nominalni mjesečni prinosi Mirexa na kraju ožujka za A kategoriju iznosili su dva posto, za B kategoriju 1,4 posto, a za C kategoriju 0,3 posto. Godišnji prinosi također su imali pozitivni predznak u sve tri kategorije - u kategoriji A je zabilježen rast od 15,2 posto, u kategoriji B za 11,2 posto, a u kategoriji C za 4,2 posto. I anualizirani prinosi Mirexa od početka rada OMF-ova su u plusu, a za Mirex A iznose 7,5 posto, za Mirex B 5,3 posto i za Mirex C 3,3 posto, naveli su iz Hanfe.

Obveznice su na kraju ožujka i dalje bile dominantan oblik ulaganja u strukturi OMF-ova, s 12,9 milijardi eura i udjelom od 60,9 posto, pri čemu se taj udjel smanjio za 0,5 postotnih bodova na mjesečnoj razini.

Istovremeno, povećala se zastupljenost ulaganja u dionice u imovini OMF-ova, za 0,3 postotna boda, te su ona krajem ožujka iznosila pet milijardi eura, odnosno 23,5 posto imovine OMF-ova.

Na kraju ožujka u Hrvatskoj je poslovalo i osam otvorenih dobrovoljnih mirovinskih fondova (ODMF), koji su imali 400.916 članova te 21 zatvoreni dobrovoljni mirovinski fond (ZDMF), s 48.909 članova.

Ukupne mjesečne uplate u dobrovoljne mirovinske fondove (DMF) iznosile su 10,1 milijun eura, što je tri posto manje nego prethodni mjesec. Istodobno su ukupne mjesečne isplate iznosile 4,7 milijuna eura, što je 1,7 milijuna eura ili 26,2 posto manje u odnosu na ovogodišnju veljaču.

Neto imovina DMF-ova u ožujku je tako iznosila 1,3 milijarde eura, što je za 23 milijuna eura ili 1,8 posto više na mjesečnoj razini.

U ožujku 2024. poslovalo je ukupno 14 društava za osiguranje. Ukupna naplaćena premija u prva tri mjeseca ove godine iznosila je 451,9 milijuna eura, od čega se 77,7 milijuna eura odnosilo na premiju životnih osiguranja, a 374,2 milijuna eura na premiju neživotnih osiguranja.

U strukturi naplaćene premije neživotnih osiguranja najzastupljenije je osiguranje od odgovornosti za upotrebu motornih vozila (36,3 posto), zatim osiguranje cestovnih vozila (19 posto) te osiguranje od požara i elementarnih šteta (9,5 posto).

Iznos likvidiranih šteta do kraja ožujka 2024. dosegnuo je 338 milijuna eura. Od tog iznosa na životno se osiguranje odnosilo 128,8 milijuna eura, a na neživotno osiguranje 209,2 milijuna eura.

Prema podacima Financijske agencije (Fine) na kraju ožujka blokirani su bili računi 211.122 hrvatskih građana, s ukupnom glavnicom duga od 2,84 milijarde eura, kao i 14.046 poslovnih subjekata, čija je glavnica duga iznosila 728,8 milijuna eura. Blokiranih je 0,01 posto manje nego u veljači, a 7 posto manje nego prije godinu dana. Ukupna glavnica duga je 4,8 posto viša nego mjesec prije te 20,8 posto viša nego u ožujku 2023. godine.

Ukupan je dug takvih građana bio 3,88 milijardi eura kada se pridoda i dug po osnovi kamata (1,04 milijarde eura). Dug potrošača prema bankama kao vjerovnicima bio je 0,68 milijardi eura (bez kamata), a prema svim financijskim institucijama 0,78 milijardi eura.

Zbog neizvršenih osnova za plaćanje evidentiran je i 21 poslovni subjekt (0,1 %) više nego u veljači i 30 poslovnih subjekata ili 0,2 posto više nego godinu prije. Glavnica njihova duga je 7 milijuna eura (1 %) manja nego u veljači, a 240,7 milijuna eura, ili 49,3 posto, viša nego u ožujku 2023. godine.

In March of 2024, the Croatian pension system experienced a significant decrease in active participants with the retirement or death of 1,000 members. This resulted in net contributions to the mandatory pension funds amounting to €116.2 million. Conversely, total payout amounts due to the closure of personal accounts across all Mandatory Pension Funds (OMFs) stood at €15.6 million, marking a decrease of €0.9 million from the previous month.

The financial regulatory authority Hanfa reported that the nominal monthly returns of Mirex funds at the end of March exhibited growth across all categories. Category A returned two percent, category B 1.4 percent, and category C 0.3 percent. Annual returns also showed positive signs, with the A category recording a growth of 15.2 percent, B category 11.2 percent, and C category 4.2 percent. Hanfa highlighted that since the inception of OMFs, compounded annualized returns of Mirex funds have been positive, tallying 7.5 percent for Mirex A, 5.3 percent for Mirex B, and 3.3 percent for Mirex C.

Bonds remained as the dominant investment within the structure of OMFs at the end of March, boasting a value of €12.9 billion and comprising 60.9 percent of the total investment portfolio, despite observing a slight monthly decline of 0.5 percentage points. In parallel, investment in stocks rose by 0.3 percentage points, concluding the month at €5 billion, or 23.5 percent of OMF assets.

In addition, Croatia was home to eight open voluntary pension funds (ODMFs) and 21 closed voluntary pension funds (ZDMFs), with respective member counts of 400,916 and 48,909. Monthly contributions to voluntary pension funds (VPFs) totaled €10.1 million, a three percent decrease from the preceding month. Meanwhile, total monthly payments from VPFs amounted to €4.7 million, a 26.2 percent or €1.7 million reduction from February of the same year.

The net assets of VPFs in March increased by €23 million or 1.8 percent on a monthly basis, totaling €1.3 billion. Furthermore, during March 2024, there were 14 insurance companies in Croatia. They accumulated a total premium of €451.9 million in the first quarter of the year. The life insurance segment accounted for €77.7 million of this total, while non-life insurance premiums amassed €374.2 million.

Among the non-life insurance premiums collected, motor vehicle liability insurance was most prevalent, constituting 36.3 percent of the total, followed by road vehicle insurance at 19 percent, and fire and elementary damage insurance representing 9.5 percent. The settled claims by the end of March 2024 escalated to €338 million, distributed between life insurance claims at €128.8 million and non-life insurance claims at €209.2 million.

According to the Financial Agency (Fina), by the end of March, accounts of 211,122 Croatian citizens were frozen, with a principal debt totalling €2.84 billion, alongside 14,046 business entities with a principal debt of €728.8 million. This depicts a slight decrease from February, with 0.01 percent fewer frozen accounts and a 7 percent reduction compared to the same period in the previous year. Nevertheless, the overall principal debt showed an increase of 4.8 percent from the previous month and a significant 20.8 percent spike from March 2023.

The total debt of these citizens reached €3.88 billion when interest-based debt is included (€1.04 billion). Consumer debt towards banks as creditors was reported at €0.68 billion (excluding interest), while debt towards all financial institutions stood at €0.78 billion.

The number of companies with unfulfilled payment obligations rose slightly by 21 entities (0.1 percent) compared to February and by 30 entities (0.2 percent) compared to the previous year. Although the principal debt of these businesses decreased by €7 million (1 percent) from February, it showed an enormous increase of €240.7 million, or 49.3 percent, compared to March 2023.

Sources

How would you rate this article?

What to read next...