Belarusian banks boost assets 9% in H1
MINSK. July 18 (Interfax) - Belarusian banks boosted assets 9.2% in the first half of 2012 to 283 trillion Belarusian rubles, the National Bank of Belarus reported.
Assets climbed due to a 14.3% increase in Belarusian ruble assets in the six months (2.1% in June and 2.7% in May) to Br 156 trillion and a 3.9% increase in foreign currency assets ((down 0.9% in June and 0.3% in May after growth of 1.3% in April) to $15.3 billion. The share of ruble assets on July 1 was up to 55.1% from 52.6% on January 1 2012.
Assets climbed 4.5% in the second and first quarters. National Bank of Belarus statistics show that the structure of asset growth improved in the second quarter compared to the first. At the beginning of the year amid radically high rates, the main factor of asset growth was bank transactions with the National Bank of Belarus to place surplus liquidity and the rate of lending growth remained negligible. When the National Bank lowered rates in the second quarter it encouraged lending and reduced the appeal of speculative deals with the Belarusian ruble. The National Bank increased early redemption of foreign currency deposits, which together with a reduction in withdrawal of surplus liquidity in June led to a reduction in bank deposits in the National Bank of Belarus on July 1 compared to January 1 2012.