BAKU, Azerbaijan, July 13. The International Bank of Azerbaijan issued business loans worth 1.2 billion manat ($705.8 million) in the first half of 2023, Trend reports.
According to the bank, the loan portfolio for business loans amounted to almost 2 billion manat ($1.17 billion).
"The bank's total loan portfolio for business loans increased by 15.3 percent to 1.9 billion manat ($1.11 billion) during the reporting period. The distribution of the loan portfolio for business loans increased by 14.8 percent for large corporate loans, by 25.2 percent for small and medium-sized businesses and by 16.8 percent for micro-loans compared with the indicator at the end of 2022. The growth rates of loans issued to SMEs were higher than for large partners," the bank said.
The strategy of the International Bank of Azerbaijan is based on lending to business entities. Thus, a total of 98 percent of the issued business loans fell to the private sector, while 97 percent of the loans were allocated for the development of the non-oil sector.
Meanwhile, Azerbaijani banks increased their business loans portfolio by 2.9 percent to about 11.1 billion manat ($6.5 billion), or 54.1 percent of the total loan portfolio, from January through May 2023. The portfolio of banks on business loans increased by 62.8 million manat ($36.9 billion) in May.
The loan portfolio of Azerbaijani banks is estimated at more than 20.6 billion manat or $12.1 billion (an increase of 5.4 percent compared to the indicator at the end of 2022) as of June 1, 2023. The banks' portfolio increased by 279.7 million manat ($164.5) in May.