According to the document consulted by Lusa, the profitability of the banking sector stood at 862 billion kwanzas, registering an increase of around 83 percent, compared to 2022.
The levels of Return on Equity (ROE) and Return on Assets (ROA) ratios increased considerably from 22.14 and 2.73 percent at the end of 2022 to 30.38 and 4.24 percent in December 2023 , respectively, the report continues.
Last year there were 22 banking financial institutions, with 1478 branches and 366 banking agents in Angola, as well as 18 million open bank accounts, 68 percent of which were held by six banks.
In the period under analysis, banking system assets continued to show an increasing trend, having registered an increase of 3.65 billion kwanzas, around 20 percent, compared to 2022, mainly influenced by the increase in securities and credit to customers.
At the end of 2023, the credit default ratio reversed the downward trend recorded in 2022, with bad debts standing at 884.61 billion kwanzas, an increase of 33 percent compared to the previous period .
In turn, the total liabilities of the banking sector totaled 18.78 billion kwanzas, 20.36 percent higher than the previous year due to the increase in the Customer Resources and Other Loans item, the main source of financing for this sector.
The ability to cover short-term obligations in national and foreign currency showed an increasing trend, with the immediate liquidity ratio in foreign currency increasing from 37 percent in December 2022 to 39 percent in the period under analysis. With regard to national currency liquidity, the opposite was true, decreasing from 21 percent at the end of 2022 to 17 percent in the period under analysis.
Regarding the solvency of the banking system, there was a growth of 1.84 percentage points in the Regulatory Own Funds ratio “due, fundamentally, to the reinforcement of capital by banks, within the scope of the implementation of macroprudential policy, with emphasis on measures of capital reserves”, describes the report.
Thus, at the end of 2023, the observed solvency ratio stood at 30.25 percent, “evidencing the continued resilience of the banking sector in the face of the risks inherent to banking activity”, according to the BNA.
