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The minimum loan amount issued by the commercial bank to the beneficiary under the programme will be GEL50,000, while the minimum loan amount issued by the microfinance organisation will be GEL20, 000, and the maximum volume of financing guaranteed per company is GEL5mn.
A total of 203 areas of activity in which funding can be allocated has been defined.
8.1.3 NPLs
NPL ratio for Georgia’s banks doubles during 2020 to 8.4%
The Financial Stability Committee of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has announced that, against the background of the crisis of 2020, the volume of non-performing loans (NPLs) in the country has doubled compared to the previous year and accounts for 8.4% of the banking system’s loan portfolio.
According to NBG forecast, the NPL ratio in the banking system is expected to reach 10% in the first half of 2021.
As can be seen from the data released by NBG and quoted by Business Media, the NPL share is highest in Bidzina Ivanishvili's Cartu Bank, where 35% of the GEL900mn ($270mn) loan portfolio is formed by non-performing loans. The NPL ratio of Cartu rose by only 2.2pp y/y, meaning that even before the crisis, Cartu was leading in this regard.
Silk Road bank also posts a high NPL ratio of 26.7% after a 7.2pp rise over the past 12 months.
As for the highest annual growth, Pasha Bank and Silk Road Bank are the first place with the annual rise of their NPL ratios at 7.2pp.
The NPL ratios have increased by 4.8pp and 4.6pp in 2020 at the systemic banks, Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank, respectively. Their NPL ratios were 8.4% and 7.7% respectively.
According to the official classification in Georgia, "non-performing loans" are loans of "non-standard, doubtful and loss category".
8.1.4 Bank specific regulations, issues
Georgia’s central bank to streamline FX market as of October
The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) has announced reforms aimed at providing more transparency and raising competition and liquidity in the foreign exchange market. The central bank said they would take effect as of October 1. The reforms are made up of two components: introducing the international currency code and launching the Bmatch platform of Bloomberg, Business Media reported.
With the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), international experts conducted training sessions for Georgian foreign exchange market participants and developed a new regulation. The regulation of foreign exchange market participants is based on the basic requirements of the international currency code, but at the same time takes into account the specifics of the local market.
The NBG said that both the international currency code and foreign exchange market stipulations aim to increase transparency and competition, establish fair, equitable conditions for market participants and better protect the interests
45 GEORGIA Country Report April 2021 www.intellinews.com