Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 6
By Emin Aliyev - Trend: Azerbaijani banks are independent in risk management, Azerbaijani Finance Minister Samir Sharifov said on November 6 at the parliamentary committees' meeting which discussed the draft state budget for 2014.
The minister made the remarks, commenting on the MPs' questions related to the difficulties faced by residents of the country's regions in obtaining bank loans.
"I understand that essence of these problems lies in the fact that the banks are reluctant to accept a property as mortgage if it is located in rural areas, because the issue of liquidity of the property and other factors emerge, thus they prefer to accept property in Baku and other large cities as mortgage," Sharifov said.
According to Sharifov, the Ministry of Finance does not see the possibility of using administrative measures that may affect the situation.
"Commercial banks in the country conduct their own risk management policies and they are independent in it. Ministry of Finance can not intervene in this matter," the minister said.
There are 43 banks in Azerbaijan.