BAKU, Azerbaijan, August 4
Tamilla Mammadova – Trend:
Bank deposits totaled 35.3 billion lari ($11.4 billion) in June 2021 in Georgia, with slowing growth to 16.7 percent year-on-year, down by 5.3 pp compared to May, Trend reports via the National Bank of Georgia.
The slowdown in growth primarily occurred in the lari-denominated deposits (+24.2 percent year-on-year, down from 37.4 percent in May), whereas foreign currency deposit growth also slowed down a bit (+12.2 percent year-on-year, down from 13.7 percent in May).
At the same time, compared to the previous month deposits, dollarization has decreased by 0.7 pp to 60.1 percent, however, when accounting for the currency exchange effect the dollarization has increased by 0.1 pp.
Interest rates on lari deposits have continued their upward trend, increasing by 0.4 pp since May to 10 percent, whereas foreign currency deposit rates have plunged lower to 1.2 percent.
Consequently, average interest rate spread between lari and FX deposits reached all time high of 8.8 percent, which is even higher for individual depositors at 9.6 percent.
---
Follow the author on Twitter: @Mila61979356