ArmInfo. The volumes of lending to the Armenia's economy in Q1 2022 have grown in almost all areas. Executive director of the Union of Banks of Armenia (UBA) Seyran Sargsyan announced on May 13 during a press conference.
He stressed that at the end of Q4 2021, the Armenian banking system registered some decrease in credit investments, and only the mortgage-lending portfolio registered a positive trend.
However, already in Q1 2022, loan investments increased by 123 billion drams or 3.1%, reaching 4.1 trillion drams. Noting that the share of lending to the economy somewhat prevails over the share of lending to individuals - 46% versus 44%, Sargsyan said that in the reporting quarter, the volume of financing for industry increased by 6.4%, trade - by 4.7%, agriculture - by 3.4%, services - by 2.7%, construction - by 1%. The decline in lending was recorded only in the field of transport and communications - by 8.2%.
At the same time, the head of the UBA indicated that the volume of retail lending exceeded 1.8 trillion drams, in the structure of which consumer loans, having increased by 1.2% over the quarter, amounted to 834.4 billion, and mortgages exceeded 698 billion with an increase of 6.6%.
Regarding the foreign exchange component, Sargsyan noted that over the past year, AMD loans have prevailed over foreign currency loans, while earlier, according to the results of Q1 2022, the share of AMD loans amounted to 55%, and foreign currency - 45%.
According to the head of the UBA, the ratio of loans to GDP by 2022 reached 56.8%, having almost doubled in 10 years - from 35.4% in 2011 to 35.4% in 2011.
Regarding non-performing loans, answering the question of an ArmInfo correspondent, Sargsyan noted that no special changes were registered in this indicator in the first quarter. Noting that the share of non- performing loans in the loan portfolio is within 6%, he drew attention to the rather low level of this indicator in Armenia compared to other countries.