According to the Croatian National Bank's exchange rate list on Tuesday, the midpoint exchange rate of the national currency against the Swiss franc was 7.045071 kuna against one franc.

The kuna depreciated against a majority of leading currencies, with the highest 2.75% depreciation in comparison to the Swiss franc day to day.

The appreciation of the Swiss franc is causing fear among users of housing and car loans pegged to the franc. In Croatia, more than 42% of housing loans and 47% of car loans are tied to the Swiss currency.

The franc gained 4.8% in value in the last week and more than 19% since the beginning of this year due to the developments on the international currency markets.

Today, the kuna depreciated against the euro by 0.11% with the euro exchange rate of HRK 7.443118. The kuna depreciated by 0.12%, with the dollar exchange rate being one dollar to HRK 5.215189. The pound-kuna exchange rate was one pound to 8.542543 kuna, a 0.08% drop in the value of the UK currency

Governor: One of possible measures is fixing Swiss currency as six kuna

Croatian National Bank (HNB) governor Zeljko Rohatinski told Croatian Television on Tuesday evening that the HNB was prepared to be included in the process aimed at finding a solution to cushion the consequences of the appreciation of the Swiss franc for people who took loans pegged to the Swiss currency, adding that one of the possible measures was the so-called balloon loan proposed by the banks and fixing the franc exchange rate at HRK 6.

"The HNB believes that the exchange rate of the Swiss franc should be six kuna per franc, given that in the meantime the euro also appreciated and that too should be taken into account," Rohatinski told Croatian Television.

"A solution exists if we approach it rationally, which primarily means that we must not look at this situation exclusively as a social problem and particularly not as a political problem," the governor said when ask if the central bank could do anything given that the Swiss franc was constantly increasing.

He said that from the economic point of view, the appreciation of the Swiss currency was neither favourable for the clients nor the banks.

Asked why the franc continued to grow despite the intervention of the Swiss National Bank and are there any indications that the Swiss currency would stabilise, Rohatinski said globalised financial markets were so big that no individual act could make a significant change.