TIRANA, Dec 17 /ATA/ – The non-performing loans ratio remained unchanged at 8.29% despite the economic downturn due to the earthquake last year and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Bank of Albania said on Thursday.
“The non-performing loans ratio would have further dropped should we were not to be hit by the earthquake and the pandemic, but the fact that this ratio has not increased is quite a positive indicator for the country’s financial system and banking sector in particular. The non-performing loan ratio could have been higher given the current difficult situation,” the governor of the Bank of Albania said in a press conference a day ago.
Central bank notes that the non-performing loans ratio may increase in 2021, a phenomenon expected to take place in the banking system of many other countries.
Governor Sejko underlined that the central bank measures, including postponement of loan repayments for two quarters, as well as regulatory changes to allow banks to restructure loans, have helped efforts to keep the non-performing loans ratio unchanged.
According to the central bank analysis, even in the worst case scenario, the country’s banking sector will remain stable and the increase in non-performing loans ratio would not affect the ratio of capital adequacy, liquidity, their performance in 2021 and in the future. However, the baseline scenario predicts stability and no problems are predicted from the increase in the level of non-performing loans.
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