YEREVAN, May 6. / ARKA /. Armenian ACBA -CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK’s loan portfolio had grown by 10 percent from January 2014 to 178 billion drams in late April, the bank’s CEO, Hakob Andreasyan said today. He said the bank expects its lending to grow by another 15-20 percent this year. The bulk of lending is provided to agricultural entities.

’The beginning of the year was unfavorable for agriculture, but the bank is making efforts to mitigate the losses incurred by farmers,’ he said.

"According to our calculations, the bank provides 20-25 billion drams worth short-term loans per year,” he added.

He said the 18 year-long experience of lending to agricultural sector shows that this type of lending is one of the most reliable products as virtually 99 percent of loans are repaid.

As of April 1, 2014 the bank's assets stood at 264.6 billion drams ($640.2 million), credit investments stood at 178 billion drams ($430.6 million), the equity capital was worth 53 billion drams ($128.2 million).

The amount of deposits amounted to 109.6 billion drams ($265.1 million).

The bank has currently 276,000 clients and 1,050 employees on its payrolls. It runs 49 across branches the country. ($ 1 - 413.81 drams). -0 -