Published
06/01/2026, 09:44Kyrgyzstan’s banks continue to increase lending to the economy; however, as the loan portfolio grows, so does the volume of non-performing debt. According to the National Bank, the amount of overdue loans in the banking system exceeded the psychological threshold of 10 billion KGS (10.2 billion) as of the end of March.
Since the beginning of the year, the volume of overdue loans has grown by 1.5 billion KGS, or 17%. At the same time, the share of loans with missed payments in the total loan portfolio stands at 1.9%.
The growth in overdue debt is occurring against the backdrop of a deterioration in the quality of the loan portfolio as a whole. The volume of classified loans, which banks categorize as high-risk loans, reached 60.3 billion KGS. This represents 11.2% of the banking system’s total loan portfolio. For comparison, at the end of 2025, the figure stood at 53 billion KGS, or 10.5%.
Furthermore, in September of last year, banks reported 8 billion KGS in overdue loans. Thus, in less than a year, the volume of debt for which borrowers have defaulted on their payment schedules has increased by nearly a third.
At the same time, the Islamic finance segment is showing the opposite trend. While in the fall of 2025 the share of overdue Islamic financing exceeded the banking system average at 1.82%, it has now fallen to 0.9%.
According to the regulator, the volume of overdue Islamic financing amounts to approximately 200 million KGS. Since the beginning of the year, it has decreased by 7.5%.
In fact, the trend has reversed over the course of a few months. While Islamic financing previously appeared riskier in terms of the share of non-performing loans, this segment now demonstrates the best payment discipline among borrowers.
