Coordination of Public Debt Management and Running Monetary Policy in Croatia

This paper deals with the issue of the coordination of public debt management and running monetary policy in Croatia, and draws attention to the importance of this kind of coordination for macroeconomic stability. Particular attention is paid to the management of public debt and the running of monetary policy in Croatia as practiced to date, and the problems that have arisen the while. Also given are the most important measures that the Croatian National Bank has taken to make it easier to manage the public debt and achieve better coordination with the Finance Ministry. There is more detailed discussion of the introduction of open market operations, the most important step taken towards better coordination of the running of monetary policy and the management of the public debt. Since the introduction of open market operations, interest rates on the interbank market and on the government bonds market have oscillated far less and have stabilized at a lower level. This should facilitate public debt management and provide for greater predictability in the planning of debt management costs. The final section discusses the importance of the further development of the government bonds market for the improvement of coordination in Croatia. The conclusion makes concrete proposals for the improvement of coordination: the achievement of an at least approximate consensus about the optimum combination of fiscal and monetary policy and the establishment of mechanisms for regular exchanges of information between the Finance Ministry and the Croatian National Bank for the purpose of harmonizing fiscal and monetary policy.