Baku, Azerbaijan, May 8
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
The Azerbaijan Micro-Finance Association (AMFA) does not expect closure or merger of non-bank credit organizations in 2017, AMFA Chairman Suleyman Kalyashov told Trend May 8.
Currently, the situation in the microfinance market of Azerbaijan is relatively stable, according to him.
“Today, the [Azerbaijani] government pays special attention to the development of agriculture. This is also important for non-bank credit organizations as a big part of their loan portfolio falls on loans to this sector. Given the fact that growth is forecast in agriculture for 2017, it is possible to expect certain growth of the loan portfolio of non-bank credit organizations,” Kalyashov said.
He noted that at the same time, many non-bank credit organizations prefer to concentrate on maintaining the quality of the loan portfolio and therefore they basically lend to low-risk projects.
There are 145 non-bank credit organizations in Azerbaijan.
In January-February 2017, the loan portfolio of non-bank credit organizations was 454.4 million manats, which is 23.7 percent less than in the same period of 2016, according to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan.
The official exchange rate on May 8 is 1.7026 AZN/USD.