ASTANA, Kazakhstan, July 3. Bank loans to the economy of Kazakhstan issued by second-tier banks increased by 1.6 percent to 24.1 trillion Kazakh tenge ($53.8 billion) in May 2023 (an increase of 5.7 percent since the beginning of 2023), Trend reports.
As Kazakhstan's Agency for Regulation and Development of Financial Market noted, loans in the national currency witnessed a moderate increase of 1.8 percent, reaching 22.4 trillion Kazakh tenge ($50 billion, while loans in foreign currency experienced a slight decline of 1.6 percent to 1.7 trillion Kazakh tenge ($3.7 billion), including 1.2 percent due to revaluation.
Legal entities experienced a 0.2 percent growth in loans to 8.8 trillion Kazakh tenge or $19.6 billion in May 2023 (2 percent growth since the beginning of 2023). Meanwhile, total loans to business entities, including individual entrepreneurs, increased by 1 percent to 10 trillion Kazakh tenge or $22.3 billion in May 2023 (3.9 percent growth since the beginning of 2023).
Loans to small and medium-sized businesses grew by 1.5 percent to 6.4 trillion Kazakh tenge or $14.2 billion (6.8 percent growth since the beginning of 2023), while loans to large businesses decreased by 0.03 percent to 3.6 trillion Kazakh tenge or $8.03 billion (0.9 percent decrease since the beginning of 2023).
In May 2023, new loans amounting to 1.2 trillion Kazakh tenge ($2.6 billion) were disbursed to businesses. Over the first five months of the year, a total of 5.5 trillion Kazakh tenge ($12.2 billion) in loans were granted to businesses, marking a 15 percent increase compared to the same period in 2022.
Loans to individuals reached 15.3 trillion Kazakh tenge ($34.1 billion), registering a 2.4 percent growth in May 2023 (8 percent growth since the beginning of 2023). This growth was driven by a 2.3 percent increase in consumer loans, totaling 8.3 trillion Kazakh tenge ($18.5 billion), and a 1.1 percent rise in mortgage loans, reaching 4.9 trillion Kazakh tenge ($10.9 billion).
All banks operating in the country, except the National Bank of the Republic of Kazakhstan, represent the second level of the banking system and are second-tier banks.