Latvia’s 90-day overdue loans grew in December
22.01.2010, 14:20Loans overdue more than 90 days rose to 16.4% as a share of total bank lending, compared with 15.8% in November, the Financial and Capital Markets Commission said today, citing preliminary data.
Bloomberg reported that overdue loans totaled 3.6% in December of 2008.
Latvia’s economy contracted 19% in the third quarter as a lending and property boom turned to bust after the global crisis choked credit flows and sapped export demand.
The share of total loans in arrears fell for the first time since 2008, dropping to 25.5% in December compared with 27.4% in November, according to the statement. Provisions for bad loans grew to 9.4% at the end of December, equal to 1.4 billion lats, compared with 9.3% at the end of November.
Nine Latvian banks posted a profit in 2009, earning a total of 19.6 million lats, compared with a loss of 773.4 million lats for the total banking industry, the regulator said.