Foreign currency accounted for 41.33% of the banking sector's loan book in September, up from 41.12% in August and 40.85% in July — a third consecutive monthly increase, and 0.48 percentage points above the July level. In levels, that is 32402.3 million GEL of foreign-currency loans within a total book of 78408.3 million GEL.
The monthly direction runs against the annual record. Dollarization fell from 45.20% in 2023 to 43.40% in 2024 and 42.40% in 2025; the past three months have moved the other way.
What the data does not settle is how much of that reflects new lending rather than revaluation. Nominal loan growth was 2.35% in September after 0.20% in August, and a nominal figure carries the effect of exchange-rate moves on the foreign-currency book. The only exchange-rate-excluded reading available here is July's estimate of 0.96%, against nominal growth of 0.67% in the same month — and it revalues against the USD/GEL rate alone, a proxy for a loan book that is not exclusively dollar-denominated, not a full currency-weighted adjustment.
Figures in this post
Every number below was checked against the source before publication.
BANK_LOANS_GROWTH_FX_ADJUSTED_MOM_MBank loan growth, excluding exchange-rate effect, month over month Computed from other indicators’ stored observationsBANK_LOANS_GROWTH_MOM_MBank loan growth, nominal, month over month Computed from other indicators’ stored observationsBANK_LOANS_STOCK_FC_MBank loans outstanding, foreign currency National Bank of Georgia — downloaded filesBANK_LOANS_STOCK_TOTAL_MBank loans outstanding, total Computed from other indicators’ stored observationsLOAN_DOLLARIZATION_ALoan dollarization (banking sector) National Bank of Georgia — downloaded filesLOAN_DOLLARIZATION_STOCK_MLoan dollarization, monthly stock Computed from other indicators’ stored observations