Azerbaijan, Baku, May 1 / Trend N. Ismayilova /
Azerbaijani banks increased lending to the economy of Azerbaijan in March by 1.7 percent, compared to March 2009 - by 36.4 percent, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan said.
As of April 1, the banks issued loans for 8,485,2 million manat (including 5,044.3 million manat in national currency and 3.4409 billion manat in hard currency) compared to 8,343,5 million manat (4,852,7 million manat and 3490.8 million manat) March 1 and 6221,3 million manat (3,472,2 million manat and 2,749,1 million manat) on April 1, 2009.
In March, the share of loans in domestic currency was 68,2 percent, in foreign currency - 31,8 percent.
Loans and advances of the total portfolio worth 355.9 million manat were expired compared to 358.4 million manat by March 1, about 195.9 million manatby April 1, 2009. Statistics of expired loans does not account for similar loans of Aqrarkredit non-banking credit organization.
Short-term loans during the reporting period amounted to 2.2889 billion manat (174.5 million manat including expired loans) compared to 2210.1 million manat (177.7 million manat including expired loans) as of March 1, about 2070.2 million manat (118,1 million manat) as of April 1, 2009. In March the amount of short term loans in the economy increased by 3,6 percent, compared to March 2009 - by 10,6 percent.
Long-term loans amounted to 6196.3 million manat (181.5 million manat including expired loans) compared to 6133.3 million manat (180.7 million manat including expired loans) as of March 1, about 4151.1 million manat (77.7 million manat) as of April 1, 2009. In March the volume of long-term loans increased by 1.02 percent, compared to March 2009 - by 49.3 percent.
As of April 1, the only public bank in the country (International Bank of Azerbaijan) granted loans worth 3,923.4 million manat with a specific gravity of 46.2 percent (decreased by 0.5 percent in March), but private banks - 4,378,7 million manat with a specific gravity of 51.6 percent (an increase of 3.8 percent). The remaining 2.2 percent fall to non-bank credit organizations, which granted 183.2 million manat.
On May 1, the official exchange rate is 0.8033 manat to $1.