BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 17. S&P Global Ratings forecasts annual bank lending in Azerbaijan to grow by 15 percent in 2022, Trend reports via the agency.
According to the outlook, the growth in bank lending is expected to slow down to 13 percent in 2023.
Meanwhile, loan growth in Azerbaijani banking sector was assessed by the agency at 17.8 percent in 2021, the report said.
The agency also forecasts sector-average return on average bank assets (RoAA) at 1.5 percent this year, and 1.2 percent in 2023. At the same time, the agency confirmed the banks' asset profitability at 1.7 percent in 2021.
As S&P noted, current oil prices will benefit Azerbaijan’s economy, budget and balance of payments. In recent years, the banking sector has proved to be more resilient to macroeconomic challenges than expected, especially credit cost and asset quality.
“Nevertheless, we believe that easing economic risk in Azerbaijan is cyclical rather than structural, supported by favorable commodity prices and better business dynamism,” the report added.
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