ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan, March 26. The cumulative loan volume disbursed by banks in Turkmenistan in the local currency for the whole of 2023 totaled 23.61 billion Turkmen manat ($6.74 billion), with 1.95 billion Turkmen manat ($556.57 billion) being granted solely in December, Trend reports.
Data from the Central Bank of Turkmenistan show that this figure is 38.8 percent lower than in the whole of 2022, when it amounted to 38.61 billion Turkmen manat ($11.02 billion).
Throughout this timeframe, corporate entities obtained loans totaling 18.21 billion Turkmen manat, corresponding to $5.2 billion, marking a 46.9 percent decrease compared to 2022, when the figure stood at 34.29 billion Turkmen manat ($9.79 billion).
Furthermore, over the past year, banks in Turkmenistan provided loans to individuals totaling 5.4 billion Turkmen manat ($1.54 billion), which is almost 25 percent more than in the same period in 2022 (4.32 billion Turkmen manat or $1.23 billion).
Meanwhile, the development of Turkmenistan's banking sector is driven by the desire to modernize the economy and attract foreign investment through the expansion of financial services and the improvement of infrastructure.
In the meantime, according to the Central Bank of Turkmenistan, the official exchange rate of the Turkmen manat against the US dollar on March 21, 2024, is set at 3.5 manat per USD.