Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 10
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
In January-August 2017, Azerbaijani banks increased lending to agriculture and processing sector by 15.65 percent compared to the volume of lending for eight months of 2016, to 463.4 million manats, the country’s Central Bank (CBA) said in its report.
The volumes of lending to the agriculture and processing sector in Azerbaijan in August 2017 were the highest since December 2015.
During the reporting period, banks also increased lending to construction and purchase of real estate by 8 percent for the year, to 1.719 billion manats (with a specific weight of 13.9 percent), lending to public organizations grew 16.2 percent, to 30.8 million manats (0.2 percent), and lending to government agencies grew twice, to 1 million manats (less than 0.1 percent).
Consumer lending in January-August this year decreased by 21.5 percent and amounted to 4.923 billion manats. The biggest share of all issued loans, 39.8 percent, still accounts for consumer lending.
The volumes of lending to trade and services sphere in the reporting period amounted to 2.108 billion manats (15.8 percent reduction for the year) with a specific weight of 17 percent, the volumes of lending to energy, chemistry and natural resources sphere amounted to 368.9 million manats (0.4 percent decrease for the year) with a specific weight of 3 percent.
This is while the volumes of lending to construction sector amounted to 541.4 million manats (a 3.7 times reduction for the year) with a specific weight of 4.4 percent, the volumes of lending to industry and the manufacturing sector amounted to 643.9 million manats (2-times decrease for the year) with a specific weight of 5.2 percent, and the volumes of lending to transport and communications sector amounted to 1.062 billion manats (a 9.6 percent decrease for the year) with a specific weight of 8.6 percent.
(1.7002 AZN = $1 on Oct. 10)