YEREVAN, November 17. /ARKA/. The total loan portfolio of Farm Credit Armenia universal crediting organization, including leasing, amounted to 2.26 billion drams as of late October, having increased by 7.6% from the previous month.

Armen Gabrielian, the organization’s director, was quoted as saying in a press release that some 1054 transactions were made in the reporting period and the number of clients grew to 890 people. He said the repayment rate is 99.4% of the total loan portfolio. Gabrielian said also the organization is the only commercial cooperative in the financial sector in Armenia.

"Our organization provides loans for small and medium enterprises in rural areas only. Not all banks and crediting organizations reach out to rural populations. The terms of our loan products are a serious competitor in the market," he said.

Farm Credit Armenia was founded in September 2007. According to ARKA data, its assets at September 30, 2011 amounted to 2.5 billion Drams, liabilities stood at more than 2 billion drams, and total assets amounted to 482 million drams.

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, there are 31 crediting organizations in the country with 70 branches, whose total assets in the first nine months amounted to 109.7 billion drams, the capital rose to 42.5 billion drams and liabilities to 67.2 billion drams. ($1 - 384.9 drams). -0-