Finance Bank in KK82.3bn. profit
By NKOLE CHITALA
FINANCE Bank Zambia Limited has made a pre-tax profit of K82.3 billion during the period ending September 30, 2008. Executive director corporate banking and marketing, Noel Nkhoma, said the increase represented 36.5 per cent from K52 billion recorded during the month ending June 30.
Mr Nkhoma said the increase was largely on account of the confidence the people had in the bank. He was speaking at a quarterly press briefing at the bank’s headquarters in Lusaka yesterday.
Mr Nkhoma said the bank’s loans also increased by 17.4 per cent from K422 billion registered in June to K512 billion in September.
He said the bank’s deposits grew by 7 per cent from K1,072 billion to K1,149 billion during the same period.
Mr Nkhoma said the interest rates had been adjusted upwards from 19 per cent to 21 per cent due to the cost of funds in the market and treasury bills.
He said interest rates and treasury bills rates had both gone up by 3 per cent making the cost of funds in the country high.
On the global financial crisis, Mr Nhoma said the cost of funds was determined by a lot of factors which included the credit crunch in the United States.
He said the country’s economy was largely dependent on revenue earnings from the commodity market mainly copper.
He said with the decline in copper prices of about 55 per cent from US$9,000 to below US$3,000, this would affect the performance of the national economy.
And Mr Nkhoma said the Kwacha was likely to depreciate further to trade in the range of K5,000 due to uncertainty and political situation in the country which had created a negative impact on the exchange rate.
He said as at Wednesday the local currency was trading in the levels of K4,580 and K4,885 for buying and selling.
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