BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 24. Banks of Azerbaijan increased their consumer loan portfolio by 14.9 percent up to 5.19 billion manat ($3.05 billion) in the first half of 2022, Trend reports citing the analysis of intersectoral financial flows of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA).
According to the CBA, consumer lending in the reporting period grew at the fastest rate.
"Particularly, business credits rose by 7.6 percent up to 10.4 billion manat ($6.1 billion) and mortgage credits by 10.3 percent up to 2.6 billion manat ($1.5 billion) from January through June 2022. The growth rates of business lending and mortgages over the past year are at the highest in recent years, while the growth rate of consumer loans is below the pre-pandemic 2019," CBA said.
As of June 30, 2022, business loans accounted for 57.2 percent of the banks' loan portfolio, 28.3 percent of consumer loans, and 14.5 percent of mortgages, according to the Central Bank.
"The growth of economic activity in the country has a positive impact on the increase in demand for business loans. In particular, in from January through June 2022 the growth of the portfolio on business loans (by 742 million manat or $436.4 million) was influenced by an increase in lending for construction (by 386 million manat or $227 million), trade (by 364 million manat or $214 million) and agriculture (by 86 million manat or $50.5 million)," the CBA said.
Central Bank noted an increase in the average debt per borrower on consumer loans.
"In the reporting period of 2022, the average debt is 5,680 manat($3,341) (at the end of 2021 - 5,452 manat or $3,207), while in 2020 this figure was 4,834 manat ($2,843), in 2019 - 4,520 manat ($2,568)," the CBA stated.
Central Bank stressed that it has taken necessary measures to prevent the growth of credit indebtedness of the population in the future.