Third part of banks' foreign debt paid off - Marchenko

sp;ALMATY.  November 18. KAZINFORM  /Yekaterina Ionova/ Kazakhstan banks have already paid off over third of their foreign debt, Chairman of the National Bank Grigory Marchenko has informed in the course of the online conference  at Bnews portal in Almaty today.

"At the peak of the crisis in 2007 the foreign debt of the Kazakhstan banking sector made USD 46 bln that was over 50% of GDP. To date the banks have already paid off over third of it. Two major banks - Alliance and BTA - which possess more than  40% of the debt are in process of foreign debt restructuring. After the restructuring the foreign debt will be reduced by several milliards of the US dollars", G. Marchenko noted.

"After completion of the restructuring the foreign debt will make 25% of the country's GDP.

At present external debt of the banks is 32%, after restructuring it will decrease up to 30%. I think the banks will enter the foreign markets next year", he added.

"In 1993 there were 230 banks in Kazakhstan; the task on consolidation of the banking sector was solved in 90s. It is no matter how many banks in Kazakhstan function. The most important thing is maintaining competitive environment, lowering interest rates for the population and our enterprises", he said.

According to Marchenko, the deposits of the population have risen by 24% in nine months of 2009 which demonstrated growth of people's trust to the banks.