September 28 (SeeNews) - The combined net profit of Kosovo's banks for the first eight months of 2016 dropped 7.7%, year-on-year, to 55.1 million euro ($61.8 million), according to data from the country's central bank.
The banks' profit decreased by 11.2% on the year in July, falling to 46.7 million euro.
The banking sector's key profitability indicators continued to worsen, with return on assets (ROA) falling to 2.4% at the end of August, from 2.7% a year earlier, and return on equity (ROE) decreasing to 20.4%, from 25.6%.
The banking sector's outstanding loan portfolio expanded by 9.2% year-on-year to 2.17 billion euro at the end of August. The loan portfolio increased at the same annual rate in July, reaching 2.18 billion euro.
Corporate loans grew 6.3% on the year, reaching 1.39 billion euro at the end of August, while loans to households increased 15.4% to 773.9 million euro. Credits in currencies other than the euro amounted to 4.3 million euro.
Bad loans represented 5.1% of total loans in August, down from 7.5% a year earlier.
Client deposits at Kosovo's banks incerased by 5.3% on the year to 2.8 billion euro in August, after rising by an annual 3.6% to 2.71 billion euro in July. Household deposits grew 5.8% year-on-year to 2.04 billion euro, whereas corporate deposits added 7.6% to 621.1 million euro. Deposits in other currencies totalled the equivalent 140.5 million euro.
The total assets of Kosovo's banking system amounted to 3.52 billion euro at the end of August, up 5.06% from a year ago.
The capital adequacy of the Kosovo's banking system was 19.3% at the end of August.
The data released on Tuesday comprises the financial results of 10 Kosovo banks. The largest in terms of assets are Banka Kombetare Tregtare, Raiffeisen Bank Kosovo and ProCredit Bank.
($=0.8914 euro)