Big banks all but turned off the tap on new loans in the last months of last year, but their financial statements show income from interest charges grew sharply.
While growing bank profitability is good news for the economy, banks' failure to pass on the benefits of lower interest to their customers is an obstacle to growth for companies.
Lending growth was sluggish between September and December. First Gulf Bank's net loans were almost unchanged from the previous quarter at Dh96.5 billion (US$26.27bn), while National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) cut lending by 1.5 per cent to Dh136.8bn.
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