MINSK, 29 January (BelTA) – Belarusian banks increased investment financing by 50% in 2025, Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus Roman Golovchenko said during an extended meeting of the bank’s board, BelTA has learned.
“Significant progress has been made in strengthening the funding base for economic lending. The introduction of targeted incentive measures spurred growth in time deposits. At the beginning of 2026, the total amount of such bank deposits surpassed Br15 billion, marking a 1.4-fold increase compared to the same period last year. At the same time, long-term irrevocable ruble deposits from individuals have effectively hit Br11 billion, representing 73% of all public time and conditional deposits. Notably, even with a rise in some deposit rates, lending terms for businesses have improved. The average market rate for corporate ruble loans in December 2025 stood at 11.7% per annum, down from the level recorded in December 2024. This indicates a gradual yet steady downward trend,” Roman Golovchenko said.
As for investment lending, interest rates were at an even more advantageous level, being on average 2 to 2.5 percentage points lower compared to other loans extended to the real economy.
“The growth of the resource base has allowed banks to meet the economy’s needs for financial resources. The pace of lending exceeded forecast values. With a target indicator of at least 16%, investment financing actually increased by 1.5 times in 2025. Consumer lending grew by almost a third, to Br1.5 billion,” the chairman of the Board of the National Bank noted.
Overall, in 2025, the growth of banks’ lending to the economy reached 11.3%, meeting the target parameter. “Although not all banks have coped with this task. A total of six banks are falling behind the target, two of which came quite close to it, just falling slightly short,” Roman Golovchenko added.
Photos by Sergei Sheleg
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