By KYIV. Nov 14 (Interfax-Ukraine) – The full-scale Russian invasion has practically destroyed the demand for foreign currency loans, facilitating a reorientation towards lending in national currency, which is a good indicator for the economy, this opinion was expressed by the director of the financial stability department of the NBU, Pervin Dadashova.
“Hryvnia lending prevails, and in general, in principle, the hryvnia is more attractive for lending than foreign currency. This is very important, and I think that this love for lending in hryvnia should continue,” she said at a discussion at the Center for Economic Strategy.
Dadashova noted that previously the main motive for foreign currency lending was lower rates on such loans, which, in the absence of business real needs and income in foreign currency, led to problems. According to her, the risks of foreign currency lending that increased during the war sharply reduced business interest in it.
The banker noted that recently the loan portfolio has stabilized and returned to slight growth, and now banks face the task of compensating for its loss during the war, which, according to various metrics, amounted to about 15%.
“Now the quality of the loan portfolio is absolutely normal, it is even better than pre-war. That is, banks do not lose as much credit risk as they did just a few months ago,” the expert emphasized.
She clarified that the slight growth in the loan portfolio so far is largely due to growth under government support programs.
“But greater openness to new lending is already noticeable, including in our surveys,” Dadashova pointed out.
Among other trends, she noted the increase in the share of small and medium-sized businesses (SME) in the loan portfolio to more than 50%.
“Of these, a significant part belongs to business groups, that is, this is not such a pure, small business, it is still a large business, but structured in this way. But in the total portfolio, 15% of loans were provided to debtors who do not belong to business groups,” the expert clarified, emphasizing that they are a “good engine” for market lending.
