Baku, Azerbaijan, March 6
By Azad Hasanli - Trend:
In 2018, Azerbaijan’s non-bank credit organization Aqrarkredit received distressed assets worth $83.6 million of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), a source in the Azerbaijani government told Trend.
It remains to transfer assets worth $97 million to Aqrarkredit’s balance, according to the source.
“The capital position of the IBA is at an adequate level, its operational efficiency has also been restored,” the source added.
In general, the source noted positive trends in the recovery of other banks as well.
“This, along with the restoration of financial intermediation, contributes to lower interest rates,” the source said. “In particular, in 2018, interest rates throughout the country decreased by 4 percentage points and now amount to about 21 percent. The share of problem loans is also decreasing - for the year, their volume decreased by 4.2 percentage points to 14.5 percent.”
The IBA, founded in 1992, is at the stage of recovery since July 2015, which is associated with the preparation for the privatization of state-owned shares of the bank. To restore the bank's financial position, its distressed assets were transferred to Aqrarkredit.
In exchange for distressed assets, the NBCO provides the IBA with liquid funds. At the same time, the restructuring of IBA's foreign obligations has recently been completed. Over 95 percent of the Bank's shares are owned by the government.
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