YEREVAN, June 10. / ARKA /. In the first quarter of 2014 the external debt of Armenian commercial banks and credit organizations dropped to $1.154.4 billion from $1.209.6 billion in the fourth quarter of last year, the Central Bank said in its monthly bulletin.

In the first three months of this year the commercial banks and credit organizations attracted $425.5 million in foreign borrowings and also repaid $475.6 million worth earlier attracted loans and interests.

Of foreign borrowings attracted in the first quarter, 5.6% were long-term loans. Interestingly, 29.3% of long-term loans came from Latvia, 11.5% from Luxembourg and 44.4% from various international lending organizations.

At the end of the first quarter this year  the main creditor countries of Armenian commercial banks and credit organizations were Russia (16.5%), Luxembourg - 12.5% and  the Netherlands - 7.6% and about 37.5% of the loans were provided by international organizations.

The weighted average interest rate of attracted loans was 5.9%. About 48.4% of foreign loans were with floating interest rates (LIBOR, EURIBOR, etc.). The average maturity period was  4.3 years.
During the reporting period, the share of short-term loans increased to 10.8% of all borrowed loans ($ 1 - 412.86 drams). -0-