Measures taken by the National Bank eased the crisis impact for banks.
Financial sector successfully weathers through the COVID-19 crisis and appropriately performs all its functions.
"The banks faced the pandemics without noticeable imbalances, with sufficient capital and high liquidity. The work on cleansing and enhancing resilience of the banking sector launched in 2015 yielded evident positive results. For the first time on the record, banks have not become a driver of economic instability during this crisis. On the contrary, they support businesses and promote future economic recovery through lending," the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) said in a Financial Stability Report on December 21.
Measures taken by the National Bank eased the crisis impact for banks, it said.
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Moreover, the National Bank encouraged banks to restructure loans to borrowers who experienced temporary financial difficulties because of COVID-related restrictions.
Economy including the real sector recovers from the COVID-19 crisis. Although the growth rates of industries are uneven, corporate segment in general turned out to be resilient. Quality of banks' corporate portfolio did not deteriorate substantially.
"Conservative lending standards promoted borrowers' resilience. Timely restructurings and low proportion of exposures to vulnerable industries facilitated passing through the crisis without significant stresses. Consumer lending decelerated considerably as the crisis unfolded; both demand and the supply decreased on this market," reads the report.
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Background
According to a NBU survey, Ukrainian banks maintain positive expectations for lending prospects for the next year: about 80% of respondents expect an increase in the volume of their loan portfolio in the next 12 months.