Banks gave almost 70,000 loans in the first half of the year

2024-10-12 08:45:00, Ekonomi CNA

Banks gave almost 70,000 loans in the first half of the year

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The banking sector disbursed approximately 70,000 loans in the first half of this year.

Based on the Bank of Albania's payment statistics, during the first 6 months of 2024, banks made a total of 69,551 disbursements of new loans to individuals and businesses in the system.

The number of loans disbursed has increased by 37% compared to the first half of last year.

The number of loans was dominated by individuals, with 37,121 thousand disbursements or 53.4% ??of the total loans granted for the first half of the year. The number of loans in the individuals segment increased by 14.7% compared to the same period last year.

An even faster growth trend is being recorded in loans granted to businesses.

According to the Bank of Albania, in the first half of this year, 32,430 loans were disbursed to business accounts. The number of loans for businesses increased by 76.3% compared to the same period a year ago. Loans granted to business accounted for almost 47% of the number of loans disbursed, from 36% in the first half of last year.

The increase in the number of loans confirms the very positive performance of lending, also expressed in value. Credit to the economy this year is growing at the fastest rate in the last 15 years.

According to the data of the Bank of Albania, for the 8th month of 2024, the new loan granted to the Albanian economy has reached the value of 252.4 billion ALL, increasing by 32% compared to the same period last year.

This year, banks are showing increased interest especially in lending to large enterprises, including granting corporate loans in fairly high values. The positive momentum of the economy and the healthy state of the balance sheets are bringing an increase in the risk appetite of the banking sector in the country. For the 8th month of 2024, the banking sector gave a total of 183 billion new loans to businesses, with an annual increase of 47%.

Lending to individuals is also increasing, but at a slower rate. According to the Bank of Albania, for the month of August, banks gave 7.9 billion ALL in loans to individuals, with an increase of 4.5% compared to August last year. For the entire 8-month period, the new loan for individuals touched the value of 69.2 billion ALL, increasing by 16% compared to the same period a year ago. Lending to individuals continues to show positive progress, both in financing the purchase of real estate and consumption.

The value of the loan portfolio for the economy reached 812 billion ALL, increasing by 12% more compared to the same period last year./ Monitor.al