YEREVAN, May 8. / ARKA /. Overdue loans of Armenian commercial banks surged by 21.5% in late March if compared to January, to 13 billion drams or 0.8% of the total loans, according to the latest numbers released today by the National Statistical Service.

About 98% or 12.7 billion drams were short-term loans. The extended loans amounted to 58.3 billion drams, having increased by 11.7%, of which 51.2 billion drams were short-term.

According to statistical data, the outstanding credit portfolio of all banks in late March of this year amounted to over 1.5 trillion drams, an increase of 1.5% from January. Of that amount about 1 billion drams were loans in foreign currency. ($ 1 - 415.17 drams). -0 -($1 – 415.17 drams). -0-