BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 3. Azerbaijan’s bank credit portfolio is on the rise, outpacing the nominal growth of the non-oil GDP by a whopping 10.8 percent.
Data obtained by Trend from the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) indicates that the total credit portfolio rose 12 percent year-on-year to 28.5 billion manat ($16.7 billion), while growth in the first half of 2025 reached 3.6 percent.
The loan portfolios of 18 banks expanded over the past year, with 13 lenders outpacing the growth rate of nominal non-oil GDP. Notably, 7 banks recorded increases of more than 15 percent, underscoring a strong upward momentum in credit activity. To reinforce sector resilience and safeguard lending continuity, regulators will impose a 0.5 percent countercyclical capital buffer on aggregate and Tier 1 capital beginning March 1, 2025.
Growth has been broad-based, spanning business, consumer, and mortgage lending. Since the start of the year, business loans climbed 2.4 percent (356 million manat ($209.4 million)) to reach 15.1 billion manat ($8.8 billion), consumer loans rose 5.4 percent (453 million manat ($266.4 million)) to 8.9 billion manat ($5.2 billion), while the mortgage portfolio advanced 4.3 percent (185 million manat ($108.8 million) ) to 4.4 billion manat ($2.5 billion).
