OREANDA-NEWS. Jogorku Kenesh of the Kyrgyz Republic approved the Annual Report of the National Bank of the Kyrgyz Republic for 2012 at the plenary session submitted by the NBKR Chairman Ms. Z.M. Asankojoeva.

In her speech, the head of the National Bank noted that the activities of the National Bank in 2012 were directed at preserving financial stability in the country, increasing public confidence in the banking system and increasing the level of financial intermediation. In the reporting period, despite the slowdown in the economy, there was preservation of forward trends in the financial market. The banking system of the Republic, in general, has shown sustainability and positive growth.

“The volumes of financial services and credits in the economy have increased in the background of reduced interest rates on granted loans, both in national and foreign currencies. Much attention was paid to strengthening microfinance institutions, which are aimed at improving access to finance for small and medium-sized businesses, the growth of employment. National Bank initiated the launching of a large-scale campaign to improve the financial literacy of the population”, noted the NBKR Chairman.

Ms. Z.Asankojoeva stressed that the National Bank fully provided the needs of the economy with cash resources leading the macroeconomic policies jointly with the Government aimed at curbing inflation in conditions of a continuing price volatility in global commodity markets and the continued slowdown in the global economy. The monetary policy allowed creating the conditions to keep inflation within the stated targets, thereby contributing to sustainable economic growth in the medium term. Last year, the inflation rate was 7.5%.

In 2012, the acceleration of growth of lending to the real sector of the economy by commercial banks was noted. This was also due to the fact that as a result of receiving the banking license in November 2012 by the JSC “Microfinance Company “Bai Tushum & Partners” increased the number of banks. Excluding the performance of the bank, the highest growth rate of bank loans fell for the first two quarters of last year. By the end of the year the total loan portfolio of banks amounted to 40.1 billion soms, having increased by 28.5 percent. Dollarization of the loan portfolio decreased from 55.3 to 53.7 percent.

The volume of the deposit base, according to the reports of commercial banks amounted to 50.7 billion soms, having increased since the beginning of the year by 31.0 percent. Deposits in national currency increased by 39.5 percent, in foreign currency - by 22.4 percent. More active growth in the volume of KGS deposits according to the results of the reporting period led to the reduction of dollarization of the deposit base by 3.3 percentage points to 46.8 percent by the end of December.

In general, according to the results of last year, the net profit of the banking system amounted to 2.4 billion soms, having increased by 0.4 billion soms or 22.1 percent compared to the previous year. The National Bank fully provided the needs of the economy with cash resources, the NBKR Chairman summarized.

For the first time in 2012, the volume of international reserves exceeded U.S. USD 2 billion: annual reserves increased by U.S. USD 232 million or 12.7 percent.

After hearing the report of the National Bank, MPs addressed to the head of National Bank with questions. Such topics as high interest rates on microcredits, financing of the State Bank development, litigation with former shareholders of “AUB” and “FinanceCreditBank”, the negative trade balance, etc. were raised. The majority of parliamentarians noted the positive developments in the financial market, and approved the report of the National Bank for the year 2012. 80 MPs voted for and there were three against votes.