Business
Standard Bank forecasts continued macroeconomic stability in Malawi
March 05, 2020 / Madalitso Mhango
Standard Bank Group says it expects macroeconomic stability to continue in Malawi in 2020 on the back of normal agricultural season that would support the local currency and sustain low and stable inflation and interest rates.
“We remain committed to ensuring customer satisfaction in all we do. The Group will continue to focus and drive digitisation in order to improve customer experience,” says the Bank in its audited financial results for the year ended December 31.
The Group says it will continue investing for the future while prudent management of risk and liquidity, diversifying balance sheet and maintaining a healthy capital position remains at the core of its operations.
Standard bank registered a profit of about MK15.9-billion for the year, 50% more than the profits for the previous year due to an increase of 12% in the net interest income.
Growth in customer loans and advances was at 32% year on year while financial investments grew by 18%.
“Customer deposits grew by 6% which has contributed to the growth of interest earning assets,” says the Group.
The Group has, however, experienced subdued net interest income due to the declining net interest margins as a result of a decrease of the base lending rate in 2019 to 12.55% from 23% in 2018 while non-interest revenue was at 3% above the prior year due to growth in transaction volumes.
Credits impairments were 62% below prior year due to the declining in the size of the non-performing loan book.
It says: “The decline in credit impairments was due to the Group’s focus on robust credit risk management practices.”
“The group will continue to place emphasis on recoveries of loans previously written off.” On economic highlights, headlines inflation averaged 9.4% in 2019 which was higher than 2.9% registered in the previous year while food inflation remained in double digits and closed in December 2019 at 19.3%.
The Malawi Kwacha continued to lose ground against the United States dollar during 2019 on the back of excess local demand for the foreign currency as the policy rate remained relatively stable in the year closed at 13.5%. As the Standard Bank Group continued to focus on diversifying its revenue base and cost management, earnings per share for the year increased from MK45 to MK68 in 2020.
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The establishment of a stable and self-sustaining ecosystem, but not necessarily the one that existed before mining began. In many cases, complete restoration may be impossible, but successful remediation, reclamation, and rehabilitation can result in the timely establishment of a functional ecosystem.
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