YEREVAN, February 12. /ARKA/. The overdue loans of Armenian commercial banks increased by 8.7% in 2015 December when compared to the previous month to 37.8 billion drams, according to data, released today by the National Statistical Service (NSS).
According to NSS, short-term overdue loans fell by 13.4% to 21.3 billion drams, while long-term overdue loans surged by 63.3% to 16.5 billion drams. At the same time, the extended loans fell by 12.4% to 110.5 billion drams.
The banks’ overall lending in December 2015 rose by 1.7% to 1.939.7 trillion drams, with loans in foreign currency growing by 0.9% to the equivalent of 1.273 trillion drams, and loans in drams increased by 3.2% to 666. 6 billion drams.
One of the main reasons behind the rise in the amount of overdue loans is the dwindling solvent demand in the country caused by a dramatic decline in trade and remittances sent home by Armenian labor migrants from Russia.-0-
