TIRANA, Sep 17ؔhe loan portfolio of commercial banks in Albania amounted to some 419.2 billion Lek (3.14 billion euro) at the end of July, 17.4% up from a year earlier, Bank of Albania statistics indicated.
On a monthly basis the banks’ July credit portfolio was 1.0% lower.
At the end of 2008 the banks’ credit portfolio totalled 396.3 billion Lek, 35% up on the year.
The deposit portfolio of commercial banks operating in Albania stood at some 611.779 billion Lek (4.58 billion euro) at the end of July, 3.8% lower than a year earlier, Bank of Albania reported.
The banks’ End-July deposit portfolio was 0.4% lower than a month earlier.
Details in billions of Lek:
July’09 July’08 June’09
Total credits 419.193 357.032 423.339
Total deposits 611.779 636.262 614.245
The share of non-performing loans in Albania’s banking system rose to 8.73% of the banks’ credit portfolio at the end of June, compared to 7.55% at the end of March, the Bank of Albania added.
The credit portfolio of the 16 commercial banks operating in Albania rose to 422 billion Lek (3.2 billion euro) at the end of June, 21.7% up on the year, the central bank said in a statement.
The banks’ credit portfolio in the second quarter of this year was 1.05% higher than in the previous quarter.
Albania began to feel the effects of the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the central bank previous statements, which saw many people withdrawing their bank deposits.
The country’s M3 broad money supply totalled 821.468 billion Lek (6.15 billion euro) at the end of July, up by 4.4% on the year, and 0.6% higher at the end of July
Albania’s 16 commercial banks serve a market of some 3.2 million people.
