Albanian Banks' Bad Loans Rise to 8.73% of Loan Portfolio at End-June

The credit portfolio of the 16 commercial banks operating in Albania rose to 422 billion leks ($4.6 billion/3.2 billion euro) at the end of June, 21.7% up on the year, the central bank said in a statement.

The banks' credit portfolio in the second quarter of this year was 1.05% higher than in the previous quarter.

Albania began to feel the effects of the global financial crisis in the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the central bank previous statements. At the beginning of this year many people began to withdraw their bank deposits.

(1 euro= 133.5286 Albanian leks)