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NBRB head: The banking system remains stable
MINSK, 15 January (BelTA) – Belarus’ banking system remains stable, BelTA learned from Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB) Pavel Kallaur on 15 January.
The official said: “The banking system has retained its stability. Yes, the profit of the banking system has decreased somewhat: the profit has been reduced by 13.5%. Respectively the profitability of the regulatory capital has dropped by two percentage points. But as a matter of principle the 8.9% profitability of the banking sector is quite a good profitability for the sake of ensuring stability.”
Pavel Kallaur noted that non-performing assets remain at roughly the level of early 2020: 4.8% of the credit portfolio of the banking system at present. “The sufficiency of the regulatory capital of the entire banking system stands at 17% while receivables are at 12.5%. We see a considerable safety margin that allows banks to not only operate steadily but provide support to our economy later on,” the head of Belarus’ central bank pointed out.
In his words, last year the central bank and the banking system as a whole worked to accomplish two interrelated tasks: to provide support to the economy with loans at a time of need and facilitate export operations of enterprises while trying to maintain macroeconomic stability in conditions of the world crisis and the depreciation of the national currencies of Belarus’ main trade partners.
The official went on saying: “These tasks have been accomplished. We’ve retained financial stability. Surely the national currency has lost some value as a result. But I would like to point out that the process was objectively determined by the factors that our economy faced. That said, we have a balanced exchange rate, we have not accumulated imbalances, which could have a negative effect on the balance of payments and respectively the currency market.”
Pavel Kallaur added that the real effective exchange rate of the Belarusian ruble dropped by 5% in 2020. In essence, support was provided to Belarusian exporters by means of maintaining the price conditions. “The real effective exchange rate is calculated using the currencies of the main trade partners instead of the basket of currencies,” the official explained.
The head of the central bank reminded that in December 2020 the head of state approved the main monetary management guidelines for 2021. “The broad money supply is the key intermediate target. No doubt, we will stick to it,” Pavel Kallaur said. “Last year the saving process was slightly disrupted. Deposits both in foreign currencies and the national one were drained. It had a negative effect on the broad money supply and the relevant figure was slightly lower than our projections. But the resources, which left the economy due to falling national currency deposits, were replaced by money of the National Bank.”
According to Pavel Kallaur, the central bank will continue supporting the liquidity of the banking system in 2021 as well.
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