On January 31 the amount of money in frozen accounts was HRK 39.9 billion, which is a considerable fall from September 2012 when illiquidity reached its peak with HRK 44.5 billion in frozen accounts.

The number of insolvent businesses dropped to 65,505 (from 74,196 in May) and the number of employees in those companies fell to 53,290 (from 70,829 in February).

These figures confirm that the measures being taken, especially pre-bankruptcy settlement procedures, are producing results and are encouraging businesses to start dealing with their debts, the ministry said.

Although the ministry is pleased that a portion of businesses have begun their consolidation, it is appalled by the behaviour of some companies, such as the oil company INA, which it says are misusing the information on pre-bankruptcy settlement proceedings on the ministry's website to penalise their debtors.

INA has imposed stricter business terms on its partners that have applied for pre-bankruptcy settlement, demanding advance payments or payments within 15 days, even though the legal deadline is 30 days. The Croatian Employers' Association (HUP) is to assess whether such behaviour helps economic consolidation.

The Financial Agency (FINA) has so far received 3,155 applications for pre-bankruptcy settlement filed by companies that employ a total of 24,060 workers. 2,790 of those applications relate to businesses owing less than HRK 10 million each or HRK 2.6 billion in total, while 365 applications were filed by companies owing more than HRK 10 million each or HRK 27.4 billion in all.

Of the HRK 39.9 billion of unpaid debt, HRK 31.7 billion accounts for companies and 8.2 billion for small businesses. Businesses without a single employee have accumulated a total debt of as much as HRK 22 billion.

The ministry aims to expedite the reduction of illiquidity to acceptable levels by June.