Azernews.Az

By Aynur Jafarova

The assets of Azerbaijan's banking sector reached to 23.55 billion manats as of September 1, 2014.

This figure stood at 18.92 billion manats in August 2013, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan's report for the first eight months of 2014 said.

CBA noted the bank assets have increased by 24.5 percent per year.

The basis of the assets of the banking sector (67.9 percent) accounted for loans delivered to the clients in the amount of 15.99 billion manats, investments (2.02 billion manats) and funds on correspondent accounts (1.58 billion manats).

Loans and deposits delivered by the banks to the financial sector amounted to 1.11 billion manats as of August 2014.

The lion share in the structure of liabilities accounts for deposits standing at 10.17 billion manats as of September 1, 2014, showing an increase of 20.5 percent compared to the same period of 2013. Loans and deposits from the financial sector amounted to 7.98 billion manats, increasing by 28.7 percent.

CBA also said the capitalization of Azerbaijan's banking sector increased by 22.11 percent in August 2014 compared to August 2013 and amounted to 3.749.4 billion manats as of September 1, 2014.

There were 42 banks with capital worth over 10 million manats in the reported period. This increased by 1 unit compared to late August 2013. The specific weight of this category in the total volume of capital of all the country's banks amounted to 99.7 percent in this period.

The capital of one bank ranged from 5 million manats to 10 million manats, the capital of other bank ranged from 3.5 million manats to 5 million manats. The specific weight of this category in the total volume of capital of the country's all banks amounted to 0.2 percent and 0.1 percent in the reported period.

The Central Bank's requirement for the minimum amount of the banks' total capital is set at the level of 50 million manats by late 2014.

CBA's report also noted Azerbaijani banks increased lending to the economy by 19.7 percent in January-August 2014, compared to the same period of 2013.

The banks issued loans totaling around 17.309 billion manats, including around 12.691 billion manats (73.3 percent) in national currency and over 4.618 billion manats (26.7 percent) in freely convertible currency as of September 1.

By comparison, the figure exceeded 14.455 billion manats (around 10.261 billion manats in national currency and over 4.194 billion manats in freely convertible currency) in January-August 2013.

Of the total portfolio, loans worth 938.8 million manats (5.4 percent) were overdue compared to 764.8 million manats (5.3 percent) in January-August 2013.

The statistics of overdue loans does not include similar loans of Aqrarkredit non-banking credit institution. Overdue loans increased by 22.8 percent over a year.

Short term loans amounted to over 3.586 billion manats (including overdue loans worth 411.4 million manats) compared to over 3.342 billion manats (including overdue loans worth 355.6 million manats) in January-August 2013. The volume of short term loans in the economy increased by 7.3 percent over a year.

The volume of long term loans exceeded 13.723 billion manats, including 527.3 million manats in overdue loans compared to about 11.113 billion manats, including 409.1 million manats of overdue loans as of January-August 2013.

The credit portfolio of the only state bank in the country, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, exceeded 5.977 billion manats with the specific weight of 34.5 percent, while private banks issued loans worth around 10.83 billion manats with a specific weight of 62.6 percent.

The remaining 2.9 percent fell to the share of non-bank credit organizations. They issued 502.1 million manats.

CBA also said the expanded monetary base in Azerbaijan amounted to over 11.863 billion manats as of September 1.

The monetary base increased by 10.98 percent per annum. For comparison, this figure amounted to around 10.689 billion manats as of August 2013.

As of September 1, 2014, the monetary base in manat amounted to around 11.744 billion manats compared to around 10.617 billion manats as of September 1, 2013.

During the reported period the volume of money in circulation amounted to over 11.134 billion manats, while as of September 1, 2013, this figure exceeded 10.105 billion manats.

The ratio of cash money mass in circulation to the monetary base amounted to 93.9 percent as of September 1, 2014 compared to 94.5 percent as of September 1, 2013.

There are 44 banks in Azerbaijan: 43 commercial banks and one state-owned bank. There are 22 banks with foreign capital. The share of foreign capital ranges from 50 to 100 percent in seven of them, while up to 50 percent in 13 banks. There are also two local branches of foreign banks.