Representatives of the banking sector declare, that interest rates on mortgage loans will increase further in 2023.

According to the head of the Banking Association Of Georgia, Aleksandre Dzneladze, the reason for this is the introduction of additional regulations along with the strict monetary policy, which affects the mobilization of capital in commercial banks.

"Since 2020, there have been the most drastic changes in rates, at the end of 2020 the average interest rate on the entire credit portfolio was 10.22%, today we have 12.20%, i.e. it has increased completely by 2%. As for the mortgage, the increase in the same period was slightly less than 1.8%, it increased from 7.82% to 9.68%.

As for further expectations for rates, interest rates are on the rise in 2023 and the upward trend is likely to continue. This year, it will depend not only on the tightening of monetary policy, but also on the strict regulations planned for 2024, which will affect the mobilization of additional capital in commercial banks. Also important is the change related to the profit tax, which cancels the Estonian model, I think it will have an impact not only on the credit product but also on other products," said Aleksandre Dzneladze.

Nino Chaduneli, captain of the secured loans department of TBC Bank, says that in their case the lending growth totals to 13-15% y-o-y. As for the rates, according to them, growth in foreign currency is expected until the end of the year. But she notes, that in the case of lari loans, a slight decrease might be observed from the second half of the year if the monetary policy rate is eased.

In the last 5 years, Liberty Bank's mortgage loan portfolio is 42 times up, which means a 2.42%-market share. As Davit Suluashvili, Head of the Department of Loan Products and Development Projects of "Liberty Bank" explains, 73% of their loans are issued in the national currency.