Tag Archives: banking

Coronavirus hits Georgian banks

TBILISI/JAN. 21 2021 (The Bulletin) — Profit at Georgia’s 15 commercial banks fell by nearly 90% last year, the Central Bank said, reflecting the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on its economy.

It said that it expected profits at the banks to be 100m lari ($30.3m) in 2020 compared to 950m lari in 2019.

Medical experts praised Georgia for its initial hard and fast response to the coronavirus, although economists also said that this had a tough impact on its economy.

And the assessment of banks’ profit drop was given only a couple of days before Fitch, the ratings agency, downgraded the so-called support ratings of TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia and Liberty Bank to 5 from 4 because their liabilities are now larger than the Central Bank’s reserves.

The support rating is a measure of the ability of the Central Bank to prop up commercial banks, if needed.

— ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Azerbaijan commissions new Central Bank HQ

Leave a Reply

JAN. 15 2021 (The Bulletin) — In a show of confidence in its Central Bank which was derided by ordinary Azerbaijanis six years ago for allowing the manat to devalue twice in 12 months, Azerbaijan’s government commissioned the construction of a new $265m and 37-storey headquarters for it. Building work, by Turkish construction company Tekfen, is expected to take three years.

— ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 469 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Bank opens ATM in Nagorno-Karabakh

Leave a Reply

DEC. 27 2020 (The Bulletin) — In a move heavily infused with symbolism, state-owned International Bank of Azerbaijan opened its first cash machine in Shusha, the largest town taken by Azerbaijani forces from Armenia during a six-week war for control of the disputed region of Nagorno-Karabakh that ended in November. Azerbaijani business has rushed to follow soldiers and open up operations in the region.

— ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 467 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2021

Armenian banks improve profits despite coronavirus

Leave a Reply

JULY 28 (The Bulletin) — Banks in Armenia increased their net profit in the first half of the year by 5.9%, media reported by quoting a banking lobby group. It said that despite the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, which analysts said would cause a recession in Armenia, all 17 banks in the country had been profitable so far in 2020.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Georgia’s TBC Bank launches online bank in Uzbekistan

Leave a Reply

JULY 24 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s TBC Bank launched its digital subsidiary bank in Uzbekistan. TBC, which is listed on the London Stock Exchange, has branded the bank as the first fully online bank in Uzbekistan. It has followed Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank in setting up a subsidiary in Uzbekistan but while Halyk Bank has said it is targeting lending out to businesses, TBC has said that it is targeting ordinary people.

ENDS

— This story was published in issue 455 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, on July 31 2020.

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

More loans given to support SMEs in Uzbekistan

Leave a Reply

JUNE 23 (The Bulletin) — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) approved another loan of $40 million to UzPromstroybank to be lent out to SMEs that need support to survive the impact of an anti-coronavirus lockdown. Like other international financial institutions, the EBRD has increased lending to Uzbekistan to help it deal with the coronavirus. The International Finance Corporation, part of the World Bank, also gave a second Uzbek bank, Ipoteka-Bank, a loan of $35m.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Kazakhstan’s Halyk Bank to debate dividend payout

Leave a Reply

JUNE 23 (The Bulletin) — Shareholders of Halyk Bank, the largest bank in Kazakhstan, will vote on July 23 on whether to pay out the second of two planned dividend payments in 2020 because of the impact of the coronavirus on business. In May, Halyk Bank, which is majority-owned by Dinara Nazarbayeva and her husband Timur Kulibayev, voted to scrap its dividend. Ms Nazabayeva is the daughter of former president Nursultan Nazarbayev.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

EBRD gives Georgia’s TBC Bank an unsecured loan of $100m

Leave a Reply

JUNE 23 (The Bulletin) — The EBRD gave an unsecured loan of $100m to Georgia’s TBC Bank to help it lend out cash to small and medium-sized businesses fighting off the impact of the coronavirus. The EBRD has been a core supporter of SMEs in Georgia throughout the lockdown. Georgia has been praised for stamping out the virus but its economy is set to shrink by 5% this year.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 451 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin, published on June 23 2020

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Armenia says the coronavirus will wipe out any potential GDP growth

Leave a Reply

APRIL 2 (The Bulletin) — Armenia’s economy minister, Tigran Khachatryan, said that the coronavirus will wipe out any previously projected economic growth this year.

Economists had been predicting another strong year of growth for Armenia with a GDP rise of around 7.5% but it has been hit hard by the spread of the coronavirus – with 822 infections, the highest in the region – and COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.

The Armenian Central Bank has also said that economic growth will slow to 0.7% in 2020, but Mr Khachatryan, the economy minister, said that it was too early to even predict this level of growth.

“We believe that in 2020 there will be a significant reduction in economic indicators as opposed to optimistic forecasts made at the beginning of the year,” he was said.

Fitch, the ratings agency, warned that the economic fallout from the coronavirus will damage Armenia’s banking sector and increase the ratio of nonperforming loans. It also said the government’s current account deficit would increase from 1% of GDP to 5%.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin

— Copyright the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin 2020

Georiga pledges $606m to prop up economy

Leave a Reply

APRIL 1 (The Bulletin) — Georgia’s government pledged $606m to help business try to weather the impact of the coronavirus pandemic and the Central Bank said that it was relaxing its lending and capitalisation rules for smaller banks to free up another $400m.

On the $606m aid for businesses, Georgian PM Giorgi Gakharia said: “This is the help that will be directed to the maintenance of jobs, to the maintenance of companies, to the ongoing production of companies and to the maintenance of current businesses.”

The Central Bank has also been selling its US dollar reserves to prop up its currency. The lari has stabilised, although it is still at an all-time low.

Georgia’s economy ministry has said that the pandemic will knock the country’s GDP growth rate, but it has not said by how much.

ENDS

— This story was first published in issue 441 of the Central Asia & South Caucasus Bulletin