The FINANCIAL — The volume of lending by commercial banks (including loans to non-residents) in December 2018 increased by 480.3 million GEL or by 1.8 percent compared to the previous month (exchange rate effect excluded volume of lending increased by 2.1 percent) and constituted 26.6 billion GEL by January 1, 2019, National Bank of Georgia notes.
The volume of loans in the national currency increased by 159.3 million GEL (1.4 percent) and the volume of loans in foreign currency increased by 321.0 million GEL or by 2.2 percent in the same period (as a result of operations, or exchange rate effect excluded, above mentioned indicator increased by 2.6 percent).
By the end of December 2018, the total volume of national currency denominated loans issued by commercial banks amounted to 3.4 billion GEL (0.9 percent more compared to the previous month), and foreign currency denominated loans to resident legal entities constituted 8.1 billion GEL (2.4 percent more; exchange rate effect excluded volume of lending in the foreign currency increased by 2.9 percent).
During December 2018, the volume of lending to resident individuals increased by 1.6 percent or 223.5 million GEL, and constituted 14.2 billion GEL by January 1, 2019.
Larization ratio for total loans constituted 42.96 percent by January 1, 2019 and decreased by 0.18 percentage point (exchange rate effect excluded decreased by 0.29 percentage point), compared to December 1, 2018.
