YEREVAN, April 20. / ARKA /. Armenian banks’ combined net profit in the first quarter of 2015 has slashed by 75% to about 2.5 billion drams from over 9 billions in the first quarter of 2014, according to ARKA news agency’s first quarter Financial and Economic Bulletin (performance of Armenian banks).
According to the bulletin, seven of 21 commercial banks closed the first quarter with a total loss of 6.3 billion drams. In the first quarter of 2014 five banks reported a total loss of 2.2 billion drams.
The banks also reported a 3.4% drop in their total assets from the beginning of the year to 3.273 trillion drams. Their liabilities fell by 4.4% to about 2.8 trillion drams, credit investments dropped by 3.5% to a little over 2 trillion drams and obligations to customs decreased by 4.4% to over 1.6 trillion drams.
The decrease in profit and other key indicators of the banks stem from the overall worsening economic situation in the country, as well as from shocks in the financial markets in late 2014 triggered by the devaluating Armenia’s national currency.
In particular, in order to alleviate the pressure on the currency market, the Central Bank raised the reserve requirement for the banks in foreign currency. This resulted in a 41% decrease in banks’ profit last year to 27.1 billion drams. -0-
