Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.7
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
Azerbaijani banks decreased the consumer lending volume to 7.56 billion manats in October 2015, said the Central Bank of Azerbaijan's report.
The official exchange rate is 1.0499 AZN/USD Dec.7.
The consumer lending volume decreased by 0.4 percent in October compared to September.
The consumer lending volumes started to decrease after the devaluation of the manat rate [the dollar rate increased by almost 34 percent February 21] by 1-2 percent annually.
The share of consumer loans in a total volume of the banks' loan investments amounted to 40.7 percent (as of late October).
The trade and services (13.7 percent or 2.547 billion manat) ranked second on the share in the total loan portfolio of banks. The construction and real estate sector (13.3 percent or 2.468 billion manat) ranked third.
Around 8.7 percent of the total volume of lending to the real sector of Azerbaijan was directed to the industry and production. In nominal terms it amounts to 1.6 billion manat.
The share of transport and communication hit 5.3 percent (1.075 billion manat), agriculture and processing reached 3.7 percent (685.5 million manat), energy, chemistry, and natural resources - 1.3 percent (247.1 million manat).
According to the CBA, as of November 1, 2015, the total volume of loans granted by banks totaled 18.566 billion manat, including 11.281 billion manat (60.8 percent) - in national currency and 7.285 billion manat (39.2 percent) - in freely convertible currency.
There are 43 banks in Azerbaijan (two of them are state-owned).