Central Bank manipulates statistics - expert

Contrary to the restrictive measures of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan consumer credit continues to grow.

According to the Central Bank of Azerbaijan, on 1 March this year, the volume of loans to households (consumer loans) was equal to 6431.4 million manat, increasing by 41%. As a result, the share of such loans in total lending reached a historical high of 41%.

Earlier this year, the Central Bank in order to strengthen the financial stability of the banking sector, has tightened the rules for issuing consumer loans. In particular, banks were instructed to issue unsecured loans only if the reference wage or income from other sources.

According to the expert economist Samir Aliyev, the growth of consumer credit can only mean one thing. Statistical data of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan do not reflect the real picture. "The reason to suspect the central bank to manipulate the data came after it turned out that the volume of consumer loans alone IBA for a certain period of time exceeded the delinquency in the same period of the entire banking," said Aliyev.

Limiting consumer lending, Central Bank guided low quality portfolio of banks, Aliyev said . This is particularly significant in areas where it is not always possible to formally confirm their income. "According to our assumptions, this contingent is about 30% of the total number of customers. Taking this into account during January - February decline in credit to households should have been at least 5%," the expert added. ---- 15B