NPLs in Cyprus banking system decline below pound 2 billion in 2023

Non-performing loans in the Cyprus banking sector declined to pound 1.9 billion in the end of 2023, dropping by pound 0.41 billion or 19% compared with the year before.

According to data released by the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC), compared with November 2023, NPLs declined by pound 106 million. As a percentage of total loans NPLs amounted to 7.9% by end-2023, compared with 9.5% in end-2022.

Loans in arrears over 90 days (excluding restructured loans waiting to be reclassified as performing) in the end of 2023 amounted to pound 1.47 billion compared with pound 1.83 in the end of 2022 and pound 1.56 billion in November 2022, the CBC said.

The NPL coverage ratio in the end of 2023 amounted to 49.5%.

Furthermore, of the total NPLs, pound 1.07 billion were held by households and pound 0.8 billion were corporate NPLs, of which pound 0.7 billion belong to small and medium sized corporations. The coverage ratio for household NPLs stood at 37.6% whereas 64.8% of the corporate NPLs were covered by provisions.

Ac
cording to the CBC, restructured facilities in end of 2023 amounted to pound 1.47 billion compared with pound 1.73 the previous month. Of those pound 0.85 billion continued to be classified as non-performing, the CBC added.

Source: Cyprus News Agency