YEREVAN, April 4. /ARKA/. Interest rate spread of Armenia’s commercial banks was 7.26% in February, an increase of 2.07 percentage points compared to February last year, ArmStat reported. An increase of 1.63 percentage points is recorded compared to the month before.
Interest rate spread (lending rate minus deposit rate) is a key indicator of any banking system. High spread points to systemic risks when banks are unable to adequately assess loan risks.
According to ArmStat, average interest rates in Armenia’s banks were 17.08% in February against 15.91% in January on loans, and 9.82% against 10.28% on deposits.
There were a total of 21 commercial banks registered in Armenia as of the end of February 2014.–0–
