BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 5
By Tamilla Mammadova - Trend:
As of today, 43 microfinance organizations (MFO) operate in the Georgian market, Trend reports referring to National Bank of Georgia (NBG).
Over the last year, 19 MFOs have been liquidated. The changes in the market were mainly related to the regulations that were introduced within the framework of the responsible lending system in the country. Due to these regulations, the portfolio of online loans has fallen sharply.
As of the first quarter of 2020, the largest microfinance organization in terms of assets was MFO Crystal, with assets of 411 million lari ($135.5 million) and a total loan portfolio of more than 310 million lari ($102.2 million). The second largest player on the market is Rico Express, with assets of 366 lari million ($120.7 million) and a loan portfolio of 271 million lari ($89.3 million). In total, the assets of the sector amounted to 1.45 billion lari ($478.2 million) for first quarter of 2020.
In 2019, the total profit of the microfinance sector decreased by 278 times and amounted to 112,000 lari ($36,943). The main reason for the loss were multimillion-dollar losses in individual microfinance institutions.
The net profit of the sector was at the peak in 2016, when it amounted to 151.8 million lari ($50.07 million). Since 2017, the total profitability rate has been declining. In first quarter of 2020, the total profit of the sector amounted to 18.5 million lari ($6.1 million).
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