Monday, July 1 2013 10:49
Overdue loans of Armenian banks up 2.5-fold in Jan-May 2013 amid extremely slackening growth rates of total loan portfolio
ArmInfo. Overdue loans of the Armenian banks were up 2.5-fold in Jan-May 2013 amid extremely slackening growth rates of the total loan portfolio.
By data of the Armenian Central Bank provided to ArmInfo by the National Statistical Service of Armenia, overdue loans doubled over the last five years amid nearly 3-fold growth of the total loan portfolio. However, on the annual basis, the growth rates of the total loan portfolio have tangibly slackened though at the very height of the crisis it avoided decline due to operative infusions by the Central Bank and the Government. In the meanwhile, the overdue loans grew in the period of crisis and keep growing with high rates. This, in turn, implies 'writing-off operations' and shrinkage of profits in the banking system in general.
According to the source, the summary credit exposures of the Armenian banking system grew 16% and 5.2% for Jan-May to 1.673 trillion drams or $4 billion. Exclusive of the extended and overdue loans, the credit exposures of the banks totaled 1.589 trillion drams or $3.8 billion, with a 12.6% growth versus the same period of 2012 and a 4% growth for Jan-May 2013. Overdue loans in the portfolios of banks grew over threefold to 21.3 billion drams over the year, amid over twofold growth of extended loans. For Jan- May 2013 the extended loans grew 15.3% to 62.7 bln dams. The share of short-term loans is the largest in both the extended and the overdue loans.
As of June 1 2013, over 60% of the total credit exposures of banks are mainly long-term loans in terms of foreign currency. The foreign currency component in the total loan portfolio of banks grew 12.2% versus Jan-May 2012 and 2.6% for Jan-May 2013. Dynamics of the growth of the national currency component for the given periods was certainly higher - 13.3% and 6.4% respectively.
By data of the Central Bank, the annual interest on the national currency loans in Armenia fell 0.43 p for May and 1.41p versus May 2012 to 16.04% (the exchange rate for May 31 2013 totaled 417.22 AMD/$1).
As of June 1 2012, the banking sector of Armenia encompassed 21 banks (exclusive of the PanArmenian Bank) with nearly 480 branches (including 51% in the regions of Armenia).
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