Baku, Azerbaijan, April 5
By Azad Hasanli – Trend:
Capitalization of Azerbaijan’s banking sector is reaching four billion manats, according to a report of Azerbaijan’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FIMSA).
At the end of February 2018, this figure amounted to 3,885.2 million manats, an increase by 4.8 percent since early 2018.
The level of capitalization increased by 46.8 percent for the year [compared to February 2017]. The last time such high levels of capitalization of the sector were recorded in 2015.
In the last years, the country's banks have faced a difficult situation, namely, outflow of deposits, increasing dollarization, decreasing lending, and increasing losses. Amid these factors, the capitalization of banks sharply decreased, which eventually led to the closure of 15 of 45 banks. However, in 2017 the situation was gradually improving. The banks began to restore capitalization.
At the end of 2016, the capitalization was 1,908.8 million manats, while at the end of March 2017, this figure reached 2,760.2 million manats.
The sharpest increase in capitalization was recorded in November-December 2017 when capitalization rose by 570.1 million manats for the month, from 3,138.9 million manats to 3,709.2 million manats.
Thirty banks, including two state-owned ones, operate in Azerbaijan.
(1 USD = 1.7 AZN on April 5)