#Kuwait Finance House fourth quarter net profit falls 22% as COVID-19 hurts economy | Reuters

Kuwait Finance House fourth quarter net profit falls 22% as COVID-19 hurts economy | Reuters

Kuwait Finance House on Thursday reported a 22% drop in fourth-quarter net profit and a 40.9% drop in 2020 net profit, blaming the annual fall on a sharp slide in investment income and a rise in impairment charges.

Kuwaiti banks’ earnings have been hit by the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and relative weakness in oil prices, which caused the economy to contract last year.

Fitch Ratings, which cut its ratings outlook on Kuwait to negative on Wednesday, has forecast that the oil producer’s economy will stage a modest recovery this year, and estimated last year’s contraction at 7%.

KFH said its net profit was 47.2 million dinars ($156 million) in the quarter that ended on Dec. 31, down from 60.5 million dinars in the same period a year earlier.