June 1 (SeeNews) - The banks operating in Bulgaria generated a combined net profit of 1.04 billion levs ($569.4 million/531.7 million euro) in the four months through April, which was a year-on-year jump of 61.5%, the country's central bank said.
The banking sector's net operating income rose to roughly 2.2 billion levs as at the end of April from over 1.7 billion levs in the prior-year period, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said on Wednesday in a monthly report.
The combined gross interest income of Bulgarian banks rose significantly, by an annual 62% to 1.78 billion levs in the review period, while gross fee and commission income expanded to 596.1 million levs from 540.7 million levs a year earlier.
The total assets in Bulgaria's banking system stood at 159.9 billion levs at the end of April, up from 141 billion levs in the first four months of 2022. The amount reflected a monthly decrease of 0.4%, which was largely due to the completion of the merger of KBC Bank Bulgaria into United Bulgarian Bank (UBB).
The gross loan portfolio of banks in Bulgaria climbed by 0.9% to a combined 89.2 billion levs, with the highest percentage increase recorded in the general governments sector, of 2.8%.
As of end-April, deposits in the banking system amounted to 136.7 billion levs, having inched down 0.6% month-on-month. Household deposits were the only ones to show an increase, of 1.2% or 904 million levs.
DSK Bank, part of OTP Group, remained the top lender by assets at the end of April, followed by Unicredit Bulbank and UBB, central bank data showed.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)