Private Banking Association: Bank loans increased by 15.5% during 2020

by **claud39** Mon Mar 15, 2021 10:21 am

Private Banking Association: Bank loans increased by 15.5% during 2020

3/15/2021

Economy News - Baghdad

The Iraqi Private Banks Association announced, on Monday, that the percentage of loans provided by banks to citizens and companies increased by 15.5% during the year 2020 compared to the year 2019, indicating that this increase is due to the recent policy of the Central Bank of Iraq that increased various lending products and contributed to supporting banks and increasing the credit portfolio. .

The executive director of the Iraqi Private Banking Association, Ali Tariq, said in a press statement, received by "Al-Eqtisad News", that "despite the difficult circumstances that Iraq went through during the past year, as a result of the financial crisis and the complete closure of the country due to the Corona virus, which affected economic and commercial activity. , The banking indicators increased compared to previous years.

He added that "the capital of banks increased during the past year, by 8.5%, to become 16.76 trillion dinars, and it is due to some banks increasing their capital as well as opening new banks, noting that the majority of the growth in banks' capital was in private banks."

And that "deposits of the banking sector increased by 3.13% to become 84.75 trillion dinars, after it was 82.1 trillion dinars in the year 2019, and this growth is simple due to the crises that affected the economic situation throughout the country during the past year."

He stressed that "the pledge credit, grew by about 2%, as it became 25.77 trillion dinars, and this limited growth is due to the decrease in the establishment of new projects in the country."

He noted that "the cash credit provided by banks to citizens increased by 15.5%, as it increased from 42 trillion dinars in the year 2019 to 49.75 trillion dinars in the year 2020, and this increase is due to the policy of the Central Bank of Iraq recently and the initiatives it launched in recent months, which contributed to Banks increase lending to citizens and projects. "

He pointed out that "the bad debts of citizens rose by 6.47% to become 4.43 trillion dinars, which is a very large number owed by borrowers to the banking sector."

Tariq concluded his speech by saying, "The increase in bad debt growth may force banks to impose more measures in exchange for granting the loan, which is a very worrying indicator that affects the work of the development banking sector."

https://economy-news.net/content.php?id=24458