June 22 (SeeNews) - The Serbian banking sector's non-performing loans (NPL) ratio declined to 16.8% at the end of March, down by 5.1 percentage points on the year, the country's central bank, NBS, said on.
According to preliminary data, the NPL ratio of Serbia's banking sector is at a seven-year low, the central bank said in a report posted on its website.
The total value of NPLs fell by 4 billion dinars quarter-on-quarter to 341.7 billion dinars by the end of March, while total NPL write-offs in the three-month period came in at 3.9 billion dinars, the central bank said.
NPLs decreased in the period largely due to intensified efforts on the part of banks in relation to the collection, restructuring, write-off and sale of a portion of NPLs, backed by NBS measures, the central bank noted.
Given that the cleansing of bank balance sheets from distressed assets opens up room for new lending, positive effects can be expected on this basis in the coming period, the NBS added.
Under its 1.2 billion euro ($1.3 billion) precautionary stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Serbia is implementing a NPL resolution strategy, adopted in August 2015. Its goal is to identify and address legal, tax, institutional and other factors that prevent debt resolution.
The Serbian banking sector's NPL ratio stood at 17.0% at the end of December.
($ = 0.9413 euro)