Kazakh citizens granted $7.5 billion in unsecured loans in 2017

By Azernews

By Kamila Aliyeva

As many as 2.4 trillion tenge ($7.5 billion) were granted to citizens in the form of unsecured consumer loans in Kazakhstan.

This was stated in the response of Kazakh Prime Minister Bakytzhan Sagintayev to the request of the MPs of the Majilis of the Parliament, Central Asian media outlets reported.

Currently, there is a significant growth in the issuance of unsecured consumer loans in the retail lending market, according to the official.

Thus, the increase in the issuance of unsecured consumer loans for 2017 amounted to 909.7 billion tenge ($2.83 billion) from 1.5 trillion tenge ($ 4.66 billion) in 2016 to 2.4 trillion tenge in 2017, Sagintayev said.

Volume of corporate loans in comparison with 2016 decreased by 55 billion tenge ($ 170.81 million) from 7.61 trillion tenge ($ 2.36 billion) in 2016 to 7.56 trillion tenge ($ 2.34 billion) in 2017, according to the prime minister.

The head of government went on to say that consumer loans, especially unsecured loans, as compared to corporate loans, are characterized by high turnover.

“At the same time, the share of issuing unsecured loans from the total volume of loans to individuals over a long period is stable and amounts to about 70 percent. The share of unsecured loans in the loan portfolio of banks also remains at the level of 13-15 percent. In addition, the share of loans with arrears in the portfolio of unsecured consumer loans is decreasing and at the end of 2017 was 6 percent,” the document said.