The Georgian banking sector grew in 2013, while interest rates on both loans and deposits dropped, the Policy and Management Consulting Group (PMCG) reported in its review of banking sector for the year 2013 entitled Economic Outlook and Indicators. According to the report, the volume of loan portfolio of the Georgian banking sector during last January exceeded the corresponding indicator of 2013 by 21.6%, while the weighted average interest rate on loans dropped 1 percentage point and equals 18.4%. Volume of deposits of the entire banking sector in January of 2014 exceeded the corresponding indicator in January 2013 by 21%.
In the mentioned period, the weighted average interest rate on deposits decreased by 2.4 percentage points and equals 6.2%. In 2013, the banks witnessed a profit of GEL 389 million and compared to 2012 this translates into a growth of GEL 255 million.
Indicators of the volume of deposits denominated in GEL (27.0%) and increased in foreign currency (17.6%). Share of deposits denominated in foreign currency (62.0%) still exceeds share of deposits denominated in Georgian national currency (38.0%) but it is 1.8 percentage points lower than the similar figure for January 2013 (63.8%). This points to increase of larization, which is a significant determinant for effective implementation of the monetary policy and its impact on the economy, the PMCG report underlines.
In January 2014, the weighted average interest rate on deposits was 6.2%, which is 2.4 percentage points lower than the corresponding indicator in January 2013. Besides, the interest rate on national currency denominated deposits reduced by 2.6 percentage points and equals 8.8% and on foreign currency denominated deposits reduced by 2.4 percentage point and equals 5.3%.
The share of the loans to both individuals as well as to legal entities increased by 31.8% and 13.8% respectively. In this period, the highest shares of the loans to national economy are for the Trade (45.1%), Industry (17.4%) and Construction (8.1%) sectors. The share of consumer loans in total loans to individuals is 38.2%, and the share of the loans secured by the real estate in total loans to individuals is 44.1%. In January 2014, the weighted average interest rate on loans is 18.4%. This indicator is 1 percentage point lower than the indicator of January 2013. The interest rate on national currency denominated loans reduced by 1.5 percentage point and equals 21%. The interest rate on foreign currency denominated loans reduced by 2.4 percentage point and equals 12.9%.
Share of the Non-Performing Loans (NPL) in total loans is an important indicator in determining quality of the loan portfolio. In January 2014, volume of NPLs decreased (-3.9%). Thus, share of NPLs in total loans (9.6%) decreased by 2 percentage points (7.6%). In January 2014, 50% of non-performing loans was covered through special reserves. In January 2014, the indicator of loans on agriculture exceeded the corresponding indicator in January 2013 by 167.3%. The volume of loans on hotels, restaurants and financial intermediation also increased significantly by respectively 129.3% and 467.7%.
The increase of loans to these sectors reflects growth of the above-mentioned sectors. According to the indicator of the first three quarters of real GDP 2013, agriculture increased by 9%, hotels and restaurants by 3.1% and financial intermediation by 7.6%.
In 2013, incomes of commercial banks increased by 13.1% to GEL 281 million while expenses increased slightly by 1.1%, to GEL 22 million.