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The National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) said it is seeing signs of rising demand for credit by households and an increase in project activity as its net profit for the second quarter more than doubled on year.
“We are seeing positive signs across sectors including buoyant demand for credit by households and a tentative acceleration in project activity in Kuwait, with about 2.2 billion dinars ($7.3 billion) expected to be tendered in 2021,” said Issam J. Al Sager, CEO of the lender said in a statement Sunday.
NBK said its Q2 net profit rose to 76.5 million dinars ($254 million) while its H1-21 net profit rose 45 percent year-on-year (y-o-y) to 160.8 million dinars.
Total loans and advances grew in the first half by 5.3percent y-o-y 18.5 billion while customer deposits fell a shade to 17.4 billion dinars.
Total assets grew by 6.4 percent y-o-y to 31.6 billion in H1.
Al Sager said the first half performance demonstrated “a number of strengths including solid asset growth, driven by increasing loans and advances as business volumes have begun to gradually normalize.”
The bank managed to preserve margin levels although the low interest rate environment continues to challenge and pressure margins, he said.
(Writing by Brinda Darasha; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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