TIRANA, June 21/ATA/- Microfinance institutions increased lending by 18.3% in 2018.
The Bank of Albania said that by the end of 2018, the gross loan portfolio amounted to All 28.6 billion. The bulk of the loan portfolio supported small and medium business and mostly the agricultural and agribusiness sector.
The loan portfolio of microfinance institutions reached 4.9% of total banking system credit, an increase of 0.8% compared with the previous year.
The most funded microfinance sectors are “Trade” with 24%, “Real Estate and Building” with 11% and “Agriculture” by 12%.
The non-performing loans indicator in 2018 fell to 9.2%, approximately 3% less compared to the end of 2017. The main impact on the reduction of this ratio came from the improved settlement by entities but also by increase of the total loan portfolio.
While the profit generation from microfinance institutions operating in our country hit 1.7 billion ALL, with an increase of 28% compared to 2017, the BoA reported./e.xh/j.p/p.s./
