KHOROG, March 11, 2009, Asia-Plus  -- Over the first two months of this year,  branches of banks in Gorno Badakhshan have provided loans for a total amount of 4.433 million somoni, which is 4.553 million somoni fewer than in the same period of last year, the deputy GBAO governor, Aziz Giyoyev, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

According to him, decrease in loan allocations resulted from decrease in the volumes of loan resources coming to the bank branches in the region.  The other reason for decrease in volumes of loan allocations in Gorno Badakhshan is the customers’ failure to pay back loans, the deputy governor said.

“To support banks the government intends to allocate 180 million somoni from the national budget this year,” Giyoyev said.

In the meantime, savings of physical entities in branches of banks in Gorno Badakhshan doubled in the year to March 1, 2009, reaching more than 25.2 million somoni, according to central bank’s branch in Khorog.

According to the GBAO regional administration, branches of banks in Gorno Badakhshan provided 78,500,491 somoni in loans during last year, which was more than 17 million somoni more than in 2007.  The loans were provided mainly for development of small and medium-sized enterprises and enhancement of agrarian sector in the region.