DUBAI- Kuwait's central bank said on Wednesday that banks' non-performing loans had increased by 0.5 percentage points in 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The non-performing loans ratio increased to 2% in 2020 from 1.5% in 2019, a chart posted by the Central Bank of Kuwait on Twitter showed. The chart showed the ratio had declined each year since 2010, when it stood at 9%.

"The non-performing loan ratio has seen only slight increases, and is still at historically low levels," the central bank cited its governor Mohammad al-Hashel as saying.

 

(Reporting by Yousef Saba Editing by Gareth Jones) ((Yousef.Saba@thomsonreuters.com; +971562166204))