Baku, Azerbaijan, March 8
By Emin Aliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijani banks increased lending to the economy by 24.5 percent in January 2014.
The banks delivered loans totaling 15.536.3 billion manat including 11.140.5 billion manat (71.71 percent) in national currency and 4.395.7 billion manat (28.29 percent) in freely convertible currency for the reporting period, according to the Azerbaijani Central Bank.
For comparison, the figure was equal to 12.479.3 billion manat (8.580.6 billion manat in national currency and 3.898.7 billion manat in freely convertible currency) in January 2013.
Of the total portfolio, loans worth 815.1 million manat (5.25 percent) were overdue compared to 763.8 million manat as of January 2013. Statistics of overdue loans does not include similar loans of the non-banking credit institution Aqrarkredit. Overdue loans increased by 6.72 percent per year.
Short term loans amounted to 3.368.5 billion manat including overdue loans worth 372.3 million manat compared to 3.597.5 billion manat including overdue loans worth 391.1 million manat as of January 2013. The volume of short term loans in the economy decreased by 6.37 percent per year.
As of January 2014, the volume of long term loans amounted to 12.167.7 billion manat including 442.8 million manat in overdue loans compared to 8.881.7 billion manat including 372.8 million manat of overdue loans as of 2013. The long term loans increased by 37 percent per year.
The credit portfolio of the only state bank in the country, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, hit 5.272 billion manat with a specific weight of 33.9 percent, while private banks issued loans worth 9.750.1 billion manat with a specific weight of 62.8 percent. The remaining 3.3 percent fell to the share of non-bank credit organizations. They issued 514.2 million manat, according to the CBA.
Some 43 banks operate in Azerbaijan.
The official exchange rate is 0.7844 AZN/USD on March 8.
Translated by NH