The main conclusion central bank experts have come to is the deepening of negative macroeconomic processes affected all Pridnestrovian banks. Among major factors exerting negative influence on banks' operations in the first three quarters of 2015 are a decline in the amount of loans and deposits, deterioration of borrowers' payment discipline, outflow of funds from both enterprises' and citizens' accounts. These funds decreased by almost 400 million roubles (10%) in the period from January to September.
As of October 2015, over 12,000 legal entities were commercial banks' clients. More than a third of them are trading organisations, and 10% more are industrial and building enterprises, as well as agricultural companies. The rest accounts for service industries and the public sector.
The year of 2015 saw a serious reduction in commercial lending. According to PRB specialists, in the first three quarters it reached its minimum over the past seven years. This is the characteristic trend of the Pridnestrovian economy.
The reduction in commercial lending took place against the backdrop of the worsening of borrowers' solvency. Thus, legal entities' overdue debt on bank credits almost doubled.
This year enterprises chiefly took short-term bank loans for maintaining day-to-day operations and covering current expenses. At the same time, as is noted in PRB Bulletin, the number of mid-term and long-term loans was reduced.
«Fewer loans were taken for the acquisitions of capital assets and financing of long-term projects. The number of such agreements was no more than 8% in quantitative terms and 3% in money terms," says the monitoring report. This indicator also shows the financial and economic position of the country's enterprises.
The total number of over 447,000 bank accounts belongs to Pridnestrovie's individual persons, which is 38,000 more accounts than at the beginning of the year. This growth is connected with the development of payment systems.
At the same time, the population withdrew money from their accounts rather than deposited it with banks in January-September. A decline in living standards affected the number of deposits (though there are banks in Pridnestrovie which increased the volume of deposits in 2015).
The consumers' demand for fixed deposits fell three-fold. The share of deposits made for the term of over three years was not large and amounted to less than 1% in quantitative and 8% in money terms. Depositors fear political and economic uncertainty around the PMR.
In more than 43% of cases the withdrawal of private deposits in January-September was preschedule. With some commercial banks, this indicator reached 55−60%, says the monitoring report.
Meanwhile, fewer bank loans were given to the country's residents in the first three quarters of 2015. «The amount of funds raised from individual persons by commercial banks decreased by 46.3% as compared to January-September 2014," says PRB Bulletin.
According to statistics, Pridnestrovians often took payday and purchase loans rather than real estate or car loans (under 3%), educational or rest loans (under 1%).
The monitoring shows that there was an increase of situations when people facing economic hardship requested the bank to restructure their loans. Banks went halfway to meet their requests by extending the loan payment period, lowering the interest rate, writing off forfeits, providing repayment holidays, i.e. by delaying loan payments.
According to the monitoring report, banks' management is making very moderate forecasts. At the same time, the absolute majority of bank managers do not foresee any sharp, including negative, changes in banks' financial position. «This secures a relative stability of Pridnestrovie's banking industry in the near term," concludes PRB analysts.
Pavel Uvarov
