The FINANCIAL — At the end of June 2008, the volume of lending of the national economy by commercial banks grew by 2.0 billion lari (56.9%) as compared to the same period of 2007 and exceeded 5.4 billion lari.
More specifically, the volume of loans provided in the national currency grew 2.1 times and constituted 1.9 billion lari, and the volume of loans in foreign currency grew by 37.3 % and exceeded 3.5 billion lari. At the same time, the currency makeup of loans has changed: 35% are now denominated in lari and 65% – in dollars (compared to 25.7% and 74.3% last year).
During the last year the volume of long-term loans has been increasing at a higher rate than the volume of short-term loans (60.6% as compared to 49.0%), and this indicator constituted 69.8% in the total volume of lending of the national economy instead of 68.2% at the end of June of the last year.
As for the structure of loans, by the end of June 2008 commercial banks had already issued 957.2 million lari worth of national currency-denominated loans to legal entities (1.9 times more than during the same period last year) and 2.2 billion lari worth of loans in foreign currency (19.9% more than during the same period last year).
In the reporting period the volume of lending has increased significantly in the sphere of agriculture, forestry and fishing, where this indicator has increased 1.8 times and constituted 57.5 million lari. The volume of lending has increased 1.6 fold in the sphere of education and equaled 9.4 million lari. This rapid growth notwithstanding, the share of these sectors in the total amount of lending is insignificant and remains at the level of 1.8 and 0.3%.
Out of the total volume of lending to legal entities, the biggest share falls on trade – 47.0%. During the last year the volume of loans provided for trade grew by 37.5% and reached 1.5 billion lari.
After trade, the second biggest share of loans falls on those provided to the industrial sectors – 20.0%, or 635.3 million lari, by July 1, 2008 (30.6% higher than the comparable figure a year before). Construction was next, with a 13.5% share (430.5 million lari and 61.8% year-on-year growth). Thus, 85.2% of the total volume of lending to legal entities falls only on three sectors – industry, construction and trade.
The volume of lending of individuals has grown significantly during the reporting period (2.1 times) and reached 2.2 billion lari by July 1, 2008, which shows that individual entrepreneurship is stirring up.
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