The consolidated balance sheet of commercial banks displayed a 3.34% year-to-date (y-t-d) increase in total assets to $170.33B by August, equivalent to a 7.42% year-on-year (y-o-y) growth.
Total reserves showed a 10.10% y-t-d increase to form 35.39% of total assets, with a value of $60.28B. The bulk of these reserves are held in the form of deposits with the Central Bank.
The resident private sector, with a share of 25.93% of total assets, posted a 6.43% y-t-d increase to $44.17B. This sector is divided into claims denominated in foreign currencies, which amount $32.15B, and the remainder denominated in local currency. The dollarization rate of the private sector demonstrated a slight decrease from 76.54% in December to 75.84% by August. During this period, foreign currency loans advanced by 4.01% to $37.72B, and were outpaced by local currency loans which displayed a y-t-d increase of 8.13%.
Meanwhile, claims on the public sector, which mainly take the form of treasury bills and Eurobonds, barely posted any change, with only a 0.97% y-t-d increase to $38.03B. In details, the stock of T-bills grew by 4.06% to $20.79B, while securities denominated in foreign currencies shrunk by 2.63% to $17.14B.
As for liabilities, resident private sector deposits grew by 4.19% to close at $112.24B. The bulk of these deposits are denominated in foreign currencies, which increased by 4.06% y-t-d to $67.59B, while deposits in local currency grew by 4.39% to $44.64B. Non-resident private sector deposits, which increased by 2.80% y-t-d to $29.28B, also witnessed deposits in local currency outgrowing deposits in foreign currencies, with respective y-t-d growths of 8.15% and 2.09% to $3.63B and $25.65B. These changes resulted in the decrease of the dollarization rate of private sector deposits from 66.13% to 65.89% by August 2014.
Percentage Composition of Commercial Banks’ Assets by August (%)
