Credit potential of the banking system of Ukraine

The lack of available and inexpensive financial resources has long been a common phenomenon in the national economic history of the period of independence, which manifests itself both in the public finance sector and (periodically) in the activities of commercial entities. With the outbreak of full-scale hostilities with the Russian Federation, this problem has become much more acute, which, accordingly, affects the ability of the domestic economy to adapt to the realities of war, not to mention post-war reconstruction. The banking sector has traditionally been an important donor of financial resources necessary for the country's economic and social development, primarily through the mechanism of commercial lending. In this context, the credit potential of the banking system becomes one of the key parameters of the national economy's resource endowment. This article analyzes the credit potential of the banking sector of Ukraine. Its purpose is to assess the level and dynamics of the credit potential of the domestic banking system and to determine the efficiency of its use from the standpoint of the national economy. These and other tasks set out in the article are achieved by using a combination of general scientific and specific methods of processing, analyzing and interpreting statistical data and survey information. The article highlights the economic content of the credit potential of a commercial bank and the banking system, and the main factors determining its level and dynamics. Based on the NBU statistics for the last 7 - 9 years, the author analyzes the intensity of active operations of Ukrainian banks in lending to legal entities and individuals, the availability and components of free liquidity in the domestic banking system, and the resource base for the formation of the credit potential of Ukrainian banks. The result was an assessment of the existing credit potential of the domestic banking system and its changes in the context of a full-scale armed conflict and martial law in the country. The practical significance of the article lies in this, as well as in clarifying the problems and prospects for using the existing credit potential of Ukrainian banks to ensure the revitalization of their lending activities.