DUSHANBE, April 26, 2010, Asia-Plus  -- In a report released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Sharif Rahimzoda, the head of the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), revealed on April 26 that an overall volume of residual loans rose 12.6 percent in three months to March 31, 2010, reaching 5.6 billion somoni.

According to him, 69.6 percent of this amount is loans provided in the national currency, the somoni, and 30.4 percent is loans provided in foreign currency.

“An average term of repayment of loans allocated over the first quarter of this year to physical entities is 348 days and an average term of repayment of loans provided over the report period to legal entities is 265 days,” the NBT head said, noting that weighted average interest rate for loans provided in the national currency is 24.6 percent and weighted average interest rate for loans provided in foreign currency is 24.8 percent.

He added that volumes of small loans have increased by 5.6 percent over the first three months of this year and amounted to 410.7 million somoni.

“Under the conditions of the global financial crisis, the volume of problem loans has increased in the country,” said Rahimzoda, “Fortunately, the majority of such loans were provided under a pledge.”