In 2022, Caixa Angola's net income amounted to 34.5 billion kwanzas, an increase of 0.19 percent compared to the net income for the 2021 financial year, while operating income grew by 34.05 percent, according to the report and accounts available on the website.
"They were the best ever", stressed the chairman of the executive committee, João Pires, justifying the results with the growth of the bank's business and the good behavior of the Angolan economy which led to "a very low cost-risk".
The official, who was speaking to Lusa on the sidelines of the Angola Banking Conference, on the theme "Banking and ESG Challenges", organized by the magazine Economia & Mercado and the consultancy PwC, which took place this Thursday in Luanda, said, about 2023: "We think the economy will continue to grow. Inflation will fall, the fall in inflation is good for the economy, it's good for everyone, but the nominal results when inflation falls tend to adapt to that fall", he stated.
Therefore, this year "is very challenging", he admitted, without wanting to advance predictions.
In recent days, the banking sector has been going through a period of turmoil, first with the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in the United States, and then with the sharp drop in the stock market on Wednesday by Credit Suisse.
Asked about possible impacts on Angolan banking, João Pires recalls that if there were crises in the past that even led to the collapse of world banks, currently the situation does not exist.
"We have a very solid capital base, we can certainly withstand any crisis, but it is evident that if they occur [crises], they do not pass by us", he said, adding that there will be no crises similar to those of 2008 "not even a little more or less" and that the effects are "contained".
"The rise in interest rates devalues public debt portfolios (...) and we don't have that problem, we [in Angola] are not raising interest rates, so I don't expect these phenomena to have direct repercussions ", he declared.
As for the drop in the price of oil, which fell below 75 dollars on Wednesday, the reference price of the General Budget of the State of Angola, he noted that the price fluctuates "and the fundamentals do not point to large price declines", taking into account account that the war in Ukraine continues.
In addition, "an energy transition is not being made at the moment", so it is not expected that the demand for oil will drop yet.
"Let's be calm, I believe that it is not yet the time to think that, sustainably, oil will enter a downward trajectory", he stressed.
BCGA was last year the second company to enter the Angolan stock market, selling 25 percent of the capital, and currently has around 700 shareholders.
"The transaction went very well, the title has performed well on the stock market," he commented.
Banco Caixa Geral de Angola holds its General Meeting of Shareholders on 31 March, which will deliberate on eight points, including the report and accounts, application of results, election of an independent director and a member and remuneration of members of governing bodies , between others.
