Baku, Azerbaijan, July 24
By Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
In line with the development of trade relations with the European Union, the Georgian business sector is stepping up lending in euros, Trend reports with reference to commersant.ge.
As of May 2019, the average interest rate on a loan in euros in the country was 6.32 percent, which is cheaper than the rate on loans in dollars, which amounts to 8.78 percent. According to National Bank of Georgia, the average interest rate on loans in lari for legal entities reached 11.62 percent.
It is noted that the decrease in the interest rate on a loan in euros naturally led to the growth in the demand for credits in euros. As a result, in the first five months of 2019, nominal credit in the amount of 543 million euros (1.75 billion lari) was issued in the country.
This volume of the euro-loan portfolio hit a record and was by 219 percent more than in the same period of 2018.
In the first five months of 2019, loans were also issued in the amount of $1.04 billion (2.95 billion lari). This is by $584 million (1.6 billion lari) less than in the same period of 2018.
As for all loans portfolio, 43.3 percent of them were issued in national currency, and the rest was the share of the foreign currency credits.
(1 USD = 2,88 GEL on July 24)