Azerbaijani Central Bank Director gives economic forecasts for 2010

"In an effort to reduce impact of banks’ foreign debt payments worth $800 million on the lending activity of the sector, the Central Bank increased liquidity support while maintaining  focus on quality of the loan portfolio. As a result, loan portfolio increased by 5.5%, assets rose by 9% and return on assets reached 2.9%. In addition, the percentage of overdue loans in the loan portfolio was only 3.6%, and capitalization of this sector increased by 11% in the course of the year,” he added.

He said Azerbaijan’s economy has shown good resistance to the crisis.

“The economy, as well as the banking sector is well protected against negative impact of the global crisis and high growth is returning gradually. In such circumstances, we will see a stable economic trend and financial stability in 2010. Maintaining macroeconomic stability and restoring high economic growth in non-oil sector will be one of the main priorities for next year,” he added.

Rustamov noted that there has been a positive trend in bank deposits since the second quarter of 2009.

“From the beginning of this year, deposits have increased by 5%. At the same time, the deposit growth rate was supported by a move to increase the insured amount of deposits fivefold up to 30,000 manats," he added.

/APA/