Republic Bank (Guyana) Limited is reporting an after-tax profit for the first half of fiscal 2017 of $1.36b.
According to its financial statements published in yesterday’s Sunday Stabroek this represents a decline of $64m or 4.5% when compared with the corresponding period last year. The main reason behind this, according to a statement by Chairman of the Board, Nigel M Baptiste was an increase in the provision for loan losses of $109m. The provision for loan losses has risen across the banking industry and analysts have cited this as evidence of troubles in the economy.
The directors of the bank have approved an interim dividend of $1.28 per stock unit. The figure was also $1.28 in the previous year.
“Notwithstanding the current challenging economic environment, your Bank will continue to focus on its growth objectives, containment of operating expenses and the application of sound risk management practices”, Baptiste said.
According to the statement of income published, the net interest income for the unaudited six months ended March 31, 2017 was $3.423b compared to the $3.451b in the previous year. Other income was $1.449b for 2017 compared to $1.262b in the previous year. Operating income was therefore $4.872b for this year compared to $4.713b for the six months in the previous year. The loan impairment expense for six months this fiscal year was $444m compared to the $335m for the six months in the previous year. The audited loan impairment expense for the entire year ended September 30, 2016 was $786m. The loan impairment expense for the unaudited three months ending March 31, 2017 was $304m compared to $80m for the corresponding period in the previous year.
Taxation for the unaudited six months which ended on March 31 2017 was $739m compared to $824m in the previous year.
