ZAGREB, 13 Feb (Hina) – At the end of January 2026, 197,400 people in Croatia had blocked bank accounts with total principal debt of €3 billion, along with nearly 13,000 businesses owing €417.2 million in principal, the Financial Agency (Fina) said on Friday.

Fina recorded 197,379 blocked citizens at end-January, up 0.3% month-on-month and down 1% year-on-year. Their principal debt totalled €3 billion, up 0.5% from December 2025 and 2.1% from January 2025.

Including €1.2 billion in accrued interest, the total debt of citizens with blocked accounts reached €4.2 billion at the end of January 2026. Of that, €640 million (excluding interest) was owed to banks and €720 million to all financial institutions.

Due to unsettled payment orders, 12,995 business entities were registered at end-January, up by 458 or 3.7% from December and by 376 or 3% from a year earlier.

Their total principal debt stood at €417.2 million, down €249.8 million or 37.5% month-on-month and €247 million or 37.2% year-on-year. With €105 million in interest, total business debt reached €522.2 million.

Of the 12,995 entities with outstanding payment obligations, 5,609 were legal persons (43.2%), accounting for €288.6 million or 69.2% of the total unpaid principal. The remaining 7,386 were natural persons engaged in registered business activity, with debt of €128.6 million.

Compared with December 2025, the number of legal persons with outstanding obligations rose 4.3%, while the value of unpaid principal fell 46.6%. The number of natural persons increased 3.1%, and the value of their unpaid obligations rose 1.2%, Fina said.