Baku, Azerbaijan, May 7
By Emin Aliyev - Trend:
The Azerbaijani microfinance market is characterized by high profitability, executive director of the Azerbaijan Microfinance Association Jala Hajiyeva told the media on May 6.
"This is stipulated by the fact that the lower the amount of the loan, the higher the maintenance costs," she added. "The nominal margin of local non-banking credit companies is about 37 percent, which, for example, is lower than in neighboring Georgia (39 percent). But nevertheless it is quite a high level."
"The real margin of credit organizations is lower," she added.
"It is about 23 percent," she said. "The reason for this difference is that many non-banking credit companies raise funds in foreign currency and issue loans in manats. Thus, non-banking credit companies have certain conversion-cost losses."
"For comparison, the nominal margin of commercial banks is about 26 percent," she said.
The Azerbaijan Microfinance Association includes 35 organizations, including commercial banks, non-banking credit companies, credit unions, insurance, leasing and other companies.
The official exchange rate is 0.7843 AZN/USD on May 7.
Translated by NH
Edited by CN