YEREVAN, February 22. /ARKA/. In 2011 Armenian banks’ lending to agricultural sector surged by 37.2% from to 2010 to around 73.4 billion drams. According to the banks’ financial statements for the fourth quarter of 2011, the overall lending to the economy amounted to more than 1.26 trillion drams as of December 31, up from 918.4 billion drams at the beginning of 2011.

The leading bank in terms of agriculture lending was ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, which accounted for 47.2% of the total agricultural lending. This bank channeled about 24.2% or 34.6 billion drams into lending to agriculture. The numbers represented an increase from 27.2 billion at the beginning of 2011.

Other leading banks were Ardshininvestbank (more than 6.2 billion drams), Armbusinessbank (about 5.8 billion drams), Armeconombank (about 4.4 billion drams) and VTB Bank (Armenia) (about 3.2 billion drams). Armenia has 21 commercial banks. ($1 - 389.17 drams). -0-