The Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) will in the coming weeks announce a record 4.2 billion birr profit for the just-ended Ethiopian fiscal year.

The bank has bagged 4.2 billion birr in gross profit, the amount surpassing that of the previous year by a staggering 50 percent, according to a higher official of the bank who opted to remain anonymous because the bank’s performance statement is yet unofficial. The bank had grossed 2.8 billion birr during the previous Ethiopian fiscal year while it had made 43.5 billion the year before.

Along with its increased profit, the bank has secured over USD four billion from remittances and exports during the reported period, an amount 48 percent higher than that of the previous year. Over USD three billion was secured from remittances, while the balance came from export earnings. The bank has loaned out USD 3.6 billion during the same year.

Of its various activities, CBE has markedly performed well in deposit mobilization, partly by opening up over 160 branches during the reported fiscal year, according to the official.

It has mobilized close to 30 billion birr in deposit during the reported fiscal year, which inflated the total deposit at the bank to a record 86 billion birr as at the end of the just-concluded fiscal year. The bank’s total deposit stood at 56 billion birr at the end the previous fiscal year.

The bank secured over 2.8 billion birr of the 30 billion deposits it mobilized during the stated fiscal year from the over 157 branches it newly opened during the same budget year.

The bank has mobilized over 32.8 billion birr in loans and bond disbursement.

Aside from mobilizing a record deposit and profit, the level of the bank’s non-performance loans (NPLs) has gone down to 0.84 percent at the end of the just-concluded year, which amounts to less than 300 million birr, according to the official. Only seven years ago, the bank’s NPLs had reached a threatening 50 percent, way above the five percent mark for a commercial bank to be considered healthy by international standards.

The bank will in the coming days present its performance to the CBE’s board of directors headed by Bereket Simon, minister in charge at the newly formed Government Communications Affairs Office.

CBE, which currently operates over 400 branches nationwide, is close to celebrating its 70th -year at the end of the currentza budget year.

EthiopianReporter