NBU anticipates growth of banks deposit base in 2016 by 10%

The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) predicts that the banks' deposit base will growth by 10% in 2016 and their credit portfolio will slightly decrease, according to a financial stability report posted on the NBU's website.

"Trust to Ukrainian banks is gradually restoring: growth of hryvnia deposits of individuals has been seen since April 2016, and currency deposits have been expanding since December. It is anticipated that the trend will retain until the end of 2016, and the deposit base of banks will expand by 10%," the central bank said.

According to the document, the resource base of commercial banks would continue rebalancing in coming years: banks will less rely on external financial and focus on deposits of the corporate sector and households.

Bank crediting will be restricted in 2016, despite the fact that banks' liquidity is the highest now.

"Operation profits of businesses and solvency of households in 2016 should improve and this would help banks to expand crediting of economy in coming quarters," the NBU said.

Gross corporate credit portfolio of insolvent banks could narrow by 1-2% this year and credits of households could decrease by 2-3%.

In 2017 crediting growth could increase. The cost of credits will fall along with slow of inflation.