Banking system of Armenia has increased financing of almost all the basic sectors of economy. According to the Central Bank, the aggregate corporate portfolio of banks increased 12.2% to 1.445 trillion drams as of May 1 2015. The growth for April was 1.2%. Trade finance accounts for 25.7% of the total corporate portfolio of banks - 371.7 billion drams, with a 7.3% year over year growth and 2.3% growth for April. Wholesale trade financing grew 11,2% y-o-y and 2% for April to 194 billion drams, which retail trade finance grew 6.1% and 0.9% respectively to 165.5 billion drams.
Loans to processing industry grew 6.4% y-o-y and 1.6% in April to 191.6 billion drams (13.3% of total corporate portfolio). Loans to the tobacco industry grew 67.6% y-o-y and 62.2% for April to 2.1 billion drams.
Loans to food industry suffered an 8.5% y-o-y decline to 53 billion drams (a 2.2% growth in April). Financing of the food processing industry, including production of tinned vegetables and fruits, fell tangibly - 40.4% to 6.8 billion drams (a 0.6% growth for April). Loans to the bakery productions fell 25.3% to 13 billion drams (a 10.3% growth for April).
Loans to the dairy industry grew 47.8% y-o-y to 13.7 billion drams (a 0,8% decline for April), loans to the meat processing industry grew 25.6% y-o-y to 9.7 billion drams (a 0.8% decline for April). Lending to the pharmaceutical industry grew 49.4% to 1.2 billion drams (a 6.1% decline for April). Financing of the productions of drinks increased 33.4% to 50.6 billion drams (0.6% for April).
The financing of the agrarian sector grew 25.1% y-o-y to 166.3 billion drams (a 3.5% for April). Financing of the plant production sectors grew 41.5% y-o-y (5.9% for April). Loans to the cattle-breeding industry grew 8.4% y-o-y to 55,7 billion drams.
Loans to the electric power and gas supply sectors grew 8.1% y-o-y to 141.8 billion drams (a 0.7% growth for April), including 102.6 billion drams were lent to generation and distribution of electric power (a 6.3% y-o-y growth and 1.1% decline for April).
Financing of the construction sector grew 3.7% y-o-y (a 1.9% growth for April) to 116.9 billion drams. In particular, financing of the road and railway construction grew 30.9% y-o-y to 20.4 billion drams (3.8% for April), while housing construction fell 18.1% to 72.3 billion drams (2.1% for April). Financing of the mining industry grew 22.3% y-o-y (2.1% for APril) to 58.4 billion drams. Lending to recover of metal ore fell 2.7% to 26.3% (a 9% for April).
Loans to the financial sector fell 0.9% y-o-y to 87 billion drams (9.7% decline for April), of which inter- bank loans totaled 45.7 billion drams (5.8% y-o-y growth and 5.9% decline for April), loans to investment companies totaled 20.9 billion drams (12.7% y-o-y decline and 1.2% growth for April). (The exchange rate for April 30 2015 was 476.42AMD/1USD).
