Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 4
By Leman Zeynalova - Trend:
The weighted average rate on loans to individuals in Kazakhstan has decreased from 19.2 percent to 17.2 percent per annum over the past year, Trend reports with reference to the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan.
This is while the annual inflation during that period went down by 1.8 percent and stood at 5.3 percent, reads the message.
“As much as 13.5 trillion tenges worth new loans were issued in the country in 2018, which is 24.4 percent more compared to 2017. At the same time, 1.5 trillion tenges were issued in December 2018, as compared to 1.3 trillion tenges in November 2018. The volume of loans issued in Kazakhstan in December reached its highest level in the last four years,” said the Association of Financiers.
The latest data of Kazakhstan’s National Bank shows that the weighted average rate on deposits of individuals was 9.7 percent per annum in tenge and 1.3 percent per annum in foreign currency in December 2018, as compared to 9.7 percent and 1.4 percent, respectively a month earlier. Thus, the weighted average rates for tenge and dollar deposits decreased by 0.7 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively.
However, the Association believes that the further reduction in interest rates seems unlikely due to the increasing volatility in foreign markets, expected acceleration of inflation processes in the country, and, accordingly, the increased likelihood of tightening in the monetary policy of the National Bank.
Price proposals of banks on deposit products remained at the same level in January, reads the message.
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