BAKU, Azerbaijan, November 21
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
After a declining trend in 2018, non-mortgage retail is showing signs of picking up in Georgia, Trend reports via the TBC Research Group at Georgian TBC Bank.
With the impact of regulations gradually waning, monthly annualized growth, excluding seasonality was around 5-6 percent in August and September.
Although annual growth rates still remain negative (-3.6 percent year-on-year in September, excluding the foreign exchange effect), this should reverse in the coming months and strengthen further in 2020 to around 5-6 percent, assuming existing consumer lending regulations are not revised.
Despite tighter monetary policy, this segment should not be affected much because interest rate sensitivity in relatively short-term, high-yield loans is arguably weaker, said the report.
The higher growth of the non-mortgage portfolio should support bank margins, being under pressures due to the introduced regulations and intense competition.
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