Banking system of Armenia boosts lending to all sectors of economy

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).