YEREVAN, September 8. /ARKA/. In the first half of 2020 the loan portfolio of Armenian banks  exceeded 3.6 trillion drams, Chairman of the Central Bank  Martin Galstyan told reporters on Tuesday.

According to him, the mortgage lending grew from  84 billion drams in  2008 to 417 billion drams in the first half of 2020. The annual average growth is 15%.

The consumer lending grew from 175 billion drams to 957 billion drams with an average annual growth of 17%. Business  and agricultural loans grew from 360 billion drams to 2 trillion 157 billion drams.

“It is also symbolic that this year business loans are also recording outstripping growth, which is also conditioned by the government's anti-crisis programs and subsidies to businesses through various lending instruments,” Galstyan said.

As for the ratio of loans to deposits, according to the head of the Central Bank, deposits in Armenia have always grown synchronously and in parallel with loans, however, due to the recent crisis, the growth rate of deposits has slowed to some extent, while loans continue to grow.

“There are fears that if the incomes of the population do not recover, and the problems in the healthcare sector drag on a little longer,  then the economic entities and companies will see a certain decrease in income and, possibly, loans will also register a slowdown in growth rates,” Galstyan said.

Today there are 17 commercial banks in Armenia. ($ 1 - 488.12 AMD) - 0--