In January, a volume of overdue loans increased by GEL 67.6 million compared to the previous month and totaled GEL 515.4 million. 36.2% of overdue loans are denominated in national currency- the National Bank reports.

"In January 2023, excluding the effect of the exchange rate, loans increased by 13.3% annually. The growth rate of loans increased by 1.2 pp compared to last month. The growth rate of loans was largely caused by the increase in lending in foreign currency. In January, lending in the national currency increased by 16.6% year-on-year to GEL 24.4 billion and contributed 8.3 percentage points to the growth in total loans. Lending in foreign currency (excluding the exchange rate effect) increased by 10.1% and contributed 5.1 pp to the total loans growth. The increase in the growth rate of lending in foreign currency is mainly caused by the increase in business loans. Compared to the previous month, the growth rate of mortgage s has also increased. The growth of consumer loans continue s to decrease," the monthly review reads .

The weighted average annual interest rate on loans in national currency increased by 0.8 pp to 17.0%, the interest rate on loans issued in foreign currency decreased by 1.2 pp and stood at 7.4%. Dollarization of the total credit portfolio in January increased by 0.6 pp compared to the previous month and was set at 44.7%.