Azerbaijan, Baku, 25 October / Trend corr. I.Khalilova/ "The response of the banking sector to a cut of the discount rate of the National Bank of Azerbaijan from 15% to 12% will be displayed in the bank budgets for 2009," CEO of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) Jahangir Hajiyev said on 25 October. (NBA announced the reduction of refinancing rate on 14 Oct., 2008.) "The banks cannot respond within such a short period, but after five or six months the results will be evident, because banks' budget is based on banks' lending and deposit rates. Consequently, the International Bank will reconsider its tariff policy next year," he said.
According to Hajiyev, IBA's interest rates, with an average range of 17-18% and sometimes 16%, do not exceed those of other banks. IBA provides crediting on these terms, and the global liquidity crisis did not affect the bank's loan portfolio. "International Bank has not reduced lending and will continue financing the country's economy," said Hajiev. As of 1 October 2008, the total amount of IBA's loan portfolio amounted to AZN 2.752bln, while in 2007 it comprised AZN 1.4bln. On October 25, exchange rate totalled 0.8111 AZN/USD.
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