Belarusian banks increase investment lending 1.5-fold in 2025

MINSK. Jan 29 (Interfax) - Banks in Belarus increased their portfolio of investment loans 1.5-fold in 2025 while consumer lending grew by a third, the governor of the National Bank of Belarus (NBB) Roman Golovchenko said.

"The growth of the resource base allowed banks to meet the economy's needs for financial resources. Lending rates exceeded forecast values. With a target indicator of at least 16%, investment financing actually increased 1.5-fold last year. Consumer lending increased by almost a third to 1.5 billion Belarusian rubles," Golovchenko said during an expanded meeting of the NBB board on the results of the banking and financial system's work in 2025. A video excerpt of his speech was distributed by the National Bank's press service.

Golovchenko did not specify the amount of investment loans in absolute figures.

The average rate on investment loans last year was 2-2.5 percentage points lower than rates on other loans to the corporate sector on average, he said.

The overall increase in bank claims on the economy last year amounted to 11.3%, which corresponds to the target parameter, he said. "Although not all banks coped with this task. A total of six banks are behind the target, two of which came quite close to the target, falling just short," Golovchenko said.

The resource base of Belarusian banks grew significantly last year, he said. For instance, fixed-term deposits of the population in the national currency grew 1.4-fold over the year to 15 billion Belarusian rubles. Moreover, non-revocable deposits (fixed-term deposits for a period of more than one year) account for 73% of these.

The official exchange rate on January 29 is 2.85 Belarusian rubles/$1.