Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct. 14
By Anvar Mammadov - Trend:
The borrowings and loans worth 1.334 billion manat (6.64 percent) of the total portfolio were overdue in January-August 2015, the Azerbaijani Central Bank's report as of eight months says.
The volume of bad loans slightly increased again by 3 percent in August compared to July.
In January, the volume of overdue loans amounted to 1.030 billion manat (5.55 percent). By June it reached 1.338 billion manat (6.6 percent), but a slight decrease - 1.294 billion manat was observed in July.
In general, the volume of bad loans increased by 42.05 percent in January-August 2015 compared to the same period of 2014 and by 29.36 percent compared to early 2015.
For comparison, the figure was 938.8 million manat (5.4 percent) in January-August 2014.
The statistics of overdue loans does not include similar loans of Aqrarkredit non-banking credit institution.
An increase in delinquencies was observed amid an increase in the banks' loan portfolio.
Azerbaijani banks increased lending to the economy by 16.1 percent in January-August 2015 compared to the same period of 2014.
The bank lending volume decreased by 0.45 percent (91.7 million manat) in August 2015 compared to the previous month.
According to the CBA, as of September 1, 2015, the total volume of loans granted by banks totaled 20.1 billion manat, including 11.43 billion manat (56.87 percent) - in national currency and 8.67 billion manat (43.13 percent) - in freely convertible currency.
This ratio hit 73 and 27 percent in January 2015, but 60 and 40 percent accordingly in January-February, 59.17 и 40.83 percent accordingly in the first quarter.
For comparison, the banks delivered loans worth 17.309 billion manat (around 12.691 billion manat in national currency and 4.618 billion manat in freely convertible currency) as of August 2014.
The volume of short-term loans amounted to 4.323 billion manat (including overdue loans worth 476.7 million manat) as of August 2015 compared to 3.586 billion manat (including overdue loans worth 411.46 million manat) a year earlier. The volume of short-term loans in the economy increased by 20.5 percent in a year.
The volume of long-term loans amounted to 15.773 billion manat (including 857 million manat worth overdue loans) as of January-August 2015, compared to 13.723 billion manat (including 527.3 million manat worth overdue loans) as of August 2014. The volume of long-term loans has increased by 14.94 percent in a year.
The credit portfolio of the state banks in the country hit 7.262 billion manat with the specific weight of 36.1 percent, while private banks issued loans worth around 12.248 billion manat with a specific weight of 60.9 percent.
The remaining 2.9 percent fell to the share of non-bank credit organizations, which issued 586 million manat, according to the CBA.
There are 43 banks in Azerbaijan, two of which are state banks and 157 non-bank-credit organizations, including 103 credit unions
The official exchange rate is 1.0473 AZN/USD Oct. 14.
Edited by CN
follow the author on Twitter: @Anvar_Mammadov
