Ukrainian banks see share of NPL edge down to 36.59% in Feb

MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - The share of nonperforming loans (NPL) in the Ukrainian banking sector's loan portfolio shrank by 0.16 percentage points in February to 36.59% as of March 1 from 36.75% a month earlier, Ukrainian media reported, citing data from the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).

The drop was due primarily to the decrease of retail borrowers' NPL by 0.45 pp to 22.35%.

Ukrainian banks' overall loan portfolio, meanwhile, grew by UAH2.84 billion to UAH1.15 trillion in February after increasing by UAH13.44 billion in January. The amount of NPL decreased by UAH788 million to UAH419.67 billion.

Corporate lending fell for the third consecutive month, decreasing by 0.09% to UAH818.8 billion as of March 1, with the share of NPL edging down by just 0.01 pp to 44.4%.

There was a similar situation with loans to state and local government agencies, which have been falling since the start of the year, dropping by 2.7% to UAH17.23 billion in February. The share of NPL in this portfolio, which has been growing since the beginning of December, increased by 0.02 pp to 1.07%.

The official exchange rate was UAH39/$1 on April 1.