YEREVAN, June 11. / ARKA /. The interest spread of Armenian banks in April 2013 dropped by 1.7 percentage point from a year earlier to 5%, the Central Bank of Armenia.

Interest spread refers to the difference in borrowing and lending rates of financial institutions (such as banks) in nominal terms. It is considered analogous to the gross margin of non-financial companies and is one of the important indicators to assess the banking system of a country.

High interest spread is an indication of systemic risks, when banks are not able to adequately assess lending risks. The Central bank said interest spread for drams decreased by 1.8 percentage points to 5.3%, while that for US dollars declined by 1.6 percentage points to 4.5%.

According to Central Bank data, the average interest rate on loans for the reporting month was 13.8% (a decline of 0.88 percentage points from a year earlier), while the interest rate on deposits was 8.8% (up 0.8 percentage points). ($ 1 - 413.06 drams). -0-