BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 25. The annual growth rate of credit extended to the population further decelerated to 29.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023 in Kazakhstan, compared to 31.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022, Trend reports.
In the reporting period, the growth rate of mortgage loans also slowed from 41.8 percent to 35.1 percent compared to the previous quarter. Despite the substantial increase in the accumulated mortgage portfolio, the volume of newly issued mortgage loans in the first quarter of 2023 decreased by 33.3 percent year-on-year.
The decline in mortgage portfolio volumes can be attributed to stricter regulations on intermediate loans by Otbasy Bank [Housing Construction Savings Bank] and the high base of 2022. These factors also influenced the rise in mortgage loan interest rates from 9.5 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 11.0 percent in the first quarter of 2023.
Furthermore, consumer loans continued to experience growth, accelerating in annual terms from 25.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2022 to 26.9 percent in the first quarter of 2023. This increase was recorded due to a low base in 2022 resulting from January events [protests in Kazakhstan due to high prices for liquified has] and the sharp deterioration of the geopolitical situation in February 2022 [war in Ukraine].