Assets of Georgian banks increase by 1.73% in December

By Natalia Kochiashvili

Tuesday, January 26

According to Koba Gvenetadze, NBG director, access to alternative sources of financing for the Georgian private sector is growing every year - after 2016, the volume of securities nominated in the national currency increased by an average of 40%.

As of January 1, 2021, the total assets of 15 commercial banks operating in Georgia reached GEL56.9 billion, which is 966.9 million more than in the previous month. According to the National Bank of Georgia (NBG), the growth of assets was 1.73%, and without the effect of the exchange rate, this growth was 2.30%. The increase in assets was mainly due to the one billion increase in deposits. Meanwhile, the size of banks' loan portfolios increased by 858 million last month.

The volume of non-bank deposits in the banking sector amounted to GEL34.63 billion as of which is GEL1.04 billion, or 3.09% more than in December 1 (3.57% more without the exchange rate effect). In December, compared to the previous month, there was a decrease in time deposits by GEL 21.21 million, or 0.13% (increased by 0.43% without the exchange rate effect), while demand deposits increased by GEL 1.06 billion, or 6.07% (excluding the exchange rate effect - 6.49%).

The larization ratio of deposits for January 1 of the current year was 38.61%. Compared to December 1, the larization of deposits increased by 0.57 %.

The average weighted annual market interest rate on time deposits in December was 6.34%, including 8.31% on national currency deposits and 2.01% on foreign currency deposits.

"The share of the US dollar in foreign currency deposits was 84.24%, while the share of the euro was 14.39%," read the NBG report.

As for loans, according to the report, the volume for the first of January amounted to GEL38.22 billion.

The volume of loans issued by commercial banks (excluding interbank loans) in December 2020 increased by GEL858.68 million (2.30%) compared to the previous month and amounted GEL38.22 billion as of January 1 this year. During the same period, the volume of loans in national currency increased by GEL 676.90 million (4.16%), while the volume of loans in foreign currency increased by GEL 181.77 million (0.86%). At the end of December 2020, commercial banks issued GEL 5.42 billion (6.90% more than in the previous month) and foreign currency loans in the amount of GEL 13.20 billion (1.70% more than in the previous month) in foreign currency.

During December 2020, the volume of lending to the resident household sector increased by 1.51%, or GEL 279.75 million, and amounted to GEL 18.75 billion. "As of January 1, the larization ratio of total loans was 44.32%, up 0.79% from December 1, 2020 (excluding the exchange rate effect, increased by 0.82%)," the NBG reported.