Mozambique: Government threatens to remove imported products not labeled in Portuguese
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The profits of Mozambique’s state-owned National Investment Bank (BNI) last year swelled by 30% to more than 269.2 million meticais (€3.8 million), according to the report and accounts to which Lusa had access last week’s Monday.
“This performance has strengthened the bank’s ability to develop its activities in a sustainable way and its position as a solid and robust development and investment bank in the market,” reads the document, in which BNI’s board details the results for 2023.
The growth in profits saw an increase in the return on average equity, to 7.09%, compared to 5.78% in 2022, and in the return on average assets, to 2.28%, compared to 2.02% in 2022, states the bank, which is fully owned by the Mozambique state through the Institute for the Management of State Holdings (IGEPE).
In addition, the bank notes, its capital and liquidity levels “improved significantly”, with the solvency ratio rising to 23.50%, compared to 17.57% the previous year, and the liquidity ratio to 106.89%, compared to 95.39% in 2022, “above the regulatory minimums of 12 per cent and 25 per cent, respectively.”
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BNI’s chief executive, Abdul Jivane, in the message included in the report and accounts, stated: “The year 2023 was challenging due to the high uncertainties and internal and external risks that conditioned the performance of the Mozambican economy in general and the banking sector in particular, which required us to act promptly and very prudently with regard to capital allocation decisions in financial assets and the implementation of reinforced measures to improve the quality of assets and the credit portfolio.”
In 2023, non-performing loans did “favourably” with a “notable reduction of 32.50%” to 1.340 billion meticais (€19.2 million) and were now “almost all” covered by guarantees, so “limiting potential financial losses,” the document stresses.
“This positive performance is the result of prudence in granting new loans, restructuring commercially viable operations, recovery through the courts and individual monitoring of borrowers, enabling proactive actions to reduce the risk of default,” it adds.
However, despite the fact that non-performing loans fell by 435 million meticais (€6.2 million) in one year, “the fall in the volume of the loan portfolio ended up limiting the improvement in quality” compared to 2022 to just 1.21%, with the bank ending last year with a total loan portfolio of 4.651 billion meticais (€66.9 million).
The bank ended 2023 with total liabilities of more than 8.352 billion meticais (€120.1 million), an increase of 11.26% compared to 2022, driven by the 84.09% increase in customer funds (deposits), to 1.180 billion meticais (€16.9 million), and bond loans (12.57%), “reflecting the broadening of the partner base.”
BNI approved the distribution of 27.86% of its 2023 profits, equivalent to 75 million meticais (€1 million), in dividends to the state shareholder, with the rest going into legal reserves (30% of the total) and retained earnings (42.1%).
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