Skip to main content

Abstract

Between 2000 and 2007 there was a period of extensive expansion in lending to households in Croatia. Due to the deep economic crisis, many households now face problems with the repayment of their significant, barely repayable debt. Among them, the most prominent are those with loans denominated in Swiss francs.1 The rise in Swiss franc value against the Croatian kuna (HRK),2 combined with high interest rates, increased the monthly loan payments for these loans by an average of EUR 220 (euros; an average salary in Croatia being EUR 730). In 2011, when the Swiss franc was at its highest value (before the intervention of the Swiss National Bank in September 2011), there were around 100,000 Swiss franc-denominated loans. Most of them — around 75,000 — were long-term housing loans.3

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 95.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Preview

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Avdjiev, S., McCauley, R. and McGuire, P. (2012). Rapid credit growth and international credit: Challenges for Asia. BIS Working Papers No. 377.

    Google Scholar 

  • Backert, W., Brock, D., Lechner, G. and Maischatz, K. (2009). Bankruptcy in Germany: Filing rates and the people behind the numbers. In Niemi, J., Ramsay, I. and Whitford, W. C. (eds.). Consumer Credit, Debt and Bankruptcy: Comparative and International Perspectives. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, 273–288.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, B. B. and Gulde, A.-M. (2010). The credit boom in the EU new member states: Bad luck or bad policies? IMF Working Papers, 1–45.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blom, B. and Nygren, L. (2010). Analysing written narratives: Considerations on the “code-totality problems”. Nordic Journal of Social Research, 1, retrieved on http://bells.uib.no/index.php/njsr/article/view/66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bohle, D. (2013). Post-socialist housing meets transnational finance: Foreign banks, mortgage lending, and the privatization of welfare in Hungary and Estonia. Review of International Political Economy, 4, 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu, P. (2005). The Social Structures of the Economy. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, M., Peter, M. and Wehrmuller, S. (2009). Swiss franc lending in Europe. Aussenwirtschaft: Schweizerische Zeitschrift Für Internationale Wirtschaftsbeziehungen/The Swiss Review ofInternational Economic Relations, 64 (2), 167–181.

    Google Scholar 

  • Burić, I. (2010). Nacija zaduženih: Od komunističkog pakla do potrošačkog kapitalizma. [Nation of indebted: From the communist hell to consumer capitalism]. Zagreb: Naklada Jesenski i Turk.

    Google Scholar 

  • CBS (2013). Results of Households Budger Survey 2011. Zagreb: Croatian Bureau of Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • CCE (2014). Forclosures by Type and Year, 2006–2013. Zagreb: Croatian Chamber of Economy. (Unpublished analysis, retrieved on author’s request from CCE Business Information Centre.)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ćetković, P. (2011). Credit growth and instability in Balkan countries: The role of foreign banks. Research on Money and Finance, 27, retrieved on December 9, 2012 http://ideas.repec.org/p/rmf/dpaper/27.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • CNB (2005). Makrobonitetna analiza [Macroprudential analysis] (No. 1 ). Zagreb: Croatian National Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • CNB (2009). Financijska stabilnost [Financial stability] (No. 2 ). Zagreb: Croatian National Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • CNB (2011). Financijska stabilnost [Financial stability] (No. 7 ). Zagreb: Croatian National Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • CNB (2013). Financijska stabilnost [Financial stability] (No. 11 ). Zagreb: Croatian National Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2008). Towards a Common Operational European Definition of Over-Indebtedness. European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fondeville, N., Özdemir, E. and Ward, T. (2010). Over-Indebtedness. New Evidence from the EU-SILC Special Module. Research note 4/2010. European Commission.

    Google Scholar 

  • Galati, G., Heath, A. and McGuire, P. (2007). Evidence of carry trade activity. BIS Quarterly Review, 3, 27–41.

    Google Scholar 

  • GfK (2012). Hrvatska kućanstva–prihodi (troškovi) u 2011. godini [Croatian households–income (expenses) in 2011], retrieved on March 8, 2012 http://www.gfk.hr/public_relations/press/press_articles/009457/index.hr.html , accessed 8 March 2012.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herceg, I. and Šošić V. (2011). The anatomy of household debt build up in Croatia: Enlisting more creditworthy households or relaxing lending standards? Comparative Economic Studies, 53 (2) (June), 199–221.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kraft, E. (2002). Foreign banks in Croatia: Another look. CNB Working Papers W—10, retrieved on August 9, 2013 http://www.hnb.hr/publikac/istrazivanja/w-010.pdf .

    Google Scholar 

  • Kraft, E., Hofler, R. and Payne, J. (2002). Privatization, foreign bank entry and bank efficiency in Croatia: A Fourier-flexible function stochastic cost frontier analysis. CNB Working Papers W –- 9, retrieved on August 9, 2013 http://www.hnb.hr/publikac/istrazivanja/w-009.pdf .

  • Matković, T. (2003). Opseg i oblici zaposlenosti na povvetku informacijskog doba [Disappearance of Work? The Scope and Forms of Employment at the Dawn of the Information Age]. Društvena Istrazivanja, 13 (1–2), 241–265.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nettleton, S. and Burrows, R. (2000). When a capital investment becomes an emotional loss: The health consequences of the experience of mortgage possession in England. Housing Studies, 15 (3), 463–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Novotny, D. (2011). Treba li vlada pomoÉi dužnicima u Švicarcima [Should the Government help the Swiss franc debtors]. T-portal, 2 June 2011, retrieved on April 19, 2012 http://www.tportal.hr/biznis/novaciulaganje/131319/Trebali-Vlada-pomoci-duznicima-u-svicarcima.html.

    Google Scholar 

  • Riessman, C. K. (2008). Narrative Methods for the Social Sciences. London: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • SAO (2004). Final Audit Report on Privatisation. Zagreb: State Audit Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Škreb, M. and Šonje, V. (2001). Financial sector restructuring: The Croatian experience. Financial Transition in Europe and Central Asia: Challenges of the New Decade. Washington, DC: International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Šonje, V. and Vujčić, B. (1999). Croatia in the Second Stage of Transition 1994–1999, CNB Working Papers W —10, retrieved on March 4, 2015 http://www.hnb.hr/publikac/istrazivanja/w-010.pdf .

    Google Scholar 

  • Valins, O. (2004). When Debt Becomes a Problem: A Litera-ture Study. Ministry of Social Development, retrieved on March 15, 2013 http://www.familybudgeting.org.nz/documents/when%20debt%20becomes%20a%20problem.pdf .

    Google Scholar 

  • Vizek, M. (2009). Priuštivost stanovanja u Hrvatskoj i odabranim europskim zemljama [Housing Affordability in Croatia and Selected European Countries]. Revija zasoci jalnu politiku, 16(3), retrieved on August 9, 2013 http://www.rsp.hr/ojs2/index.php/rsp/article/view/809 .

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2015 Petra Rodik

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Rodik, P. (2015). The Impact of the Swiss Franc Loans Crisis on Croatian Households. In: Değirmencioğlu, S.M., Walker, C. (eds) Social and Psychological Dimensions of Personal Debt and the Debt Industry. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137407795_4

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics