TIRANA, Nov. 8 – Non-performing loans hit a record low of 10.6 percent during September, according to the Bank of Albania. This is the lowest it has been since a decade ago, as September 2014 was met with a rapid increase amounting to 25 percent in non-performing loans. Since then, the NPL level decreased, reaching 11 percent at the end of 2018 after the Bank of Albania undertook a strategy towards the restructuring of loans. A slight increase was noticed in the beginning of 2019, but this was soon followed by a decline in non-performing loans which had not been paid back for a period of at least three years.
Earlier this year, the BoA approved ‘Tirana Access’, a saving plan for businesses which failed to pay off their loans amounting to over 8 million euros to banks. Therefore, another factor which led to the improvement of NPLs involves the increase of loans to the private sector. “The level of private sector loans increased by an average of 7.5 percent during the third quarter. This increasing rate came as a result of the rise in demand as well as the improvement of bank loan supply. Not only does the latter reflect the improvement of the constant loan environment and the banking sector’s performance – as shown through the decline to 10.6 percent of non-performing loans – but it also indicates an increase of competition in the banking system in the conclusion of its consolidation process. Seeing its composition, the increase in loans was broad-based in terms of currency structure, beneficiaries as well as its destination. This is another encouraging signal for the expansion of loans in the future,” the governor of the Bank of Albania, Gent Sejko, said. Earlier this year, the BoA approved ‘Tirana Access’, a saving plan for businesses which failed to pay off their loans amounting to over 8 million euros to banks.
