11:54 - 11.03.2022

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March 11, Fineko/abc.az. Compared to other middle-income countries, Azerbaijan's banking sector is comparatively not large. If to look at the ratio of loans or deposits to GDP, compared with countries with the same income, the banking sector in Azerbaijan is smaller than in the above-mentioned countries.

World Bank's Manager for Azerbaijan, Sarah Michael, told about this in an interview for ABC.AZ.

She noted that there is a certain potential in this area as well.

"At that, we’re holding discussions in the field of financial inclusion. And in this area for several years, especially during the pandemic, we’ve witnessed the Government's commitment to this. This suggests that the scale of people's use of digital services is expanding," she emphasized.

According to Ms. Michael, the peculiarities of each country, the peculiarities of their economy are different. Accordingly, the priorities of their financial sector and banking system also differ.

"Of course, in each country where we work, we conduct assessments on several indicators, provide assistance to countries. This still includes the stability of the banking system, financial inclusion, access to loans from financing, asset quality, the regulatory phase, the level of competition in the market and the introduction of digital technologies. In accordance with the banking sector of each country, one of them is given more attention, and the others fade into the background," Ms. Michael said.