April 30 (SeeNews) - The combined net profit of banks operating in Bulgaria climbed by 4.3% on the year to 818 million levs ($448.3 million/418.2 million euro) in the first quarter of 2024, the central bank said on Tuesday.
The banking sector's net operating income came in at roughly 1.86 billion levs at the end of March, the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) said in a monthly report on the banking sector's performance. In January-March 2023, banks in Bulgaria booked a net operating income of 1.66 billion levs.
Net interest income jumped by an annual 27.3% to 1.4 billion levs, while net fee and commission income added 5.1% to 373 million levs.
The banks' total assets amounted to 176.3 billion levs at the end of March, up 2.5% quarter-on-quarter. In the first three months of 2023, total assets stood at 160.6 billion levs.
Gross loans and advances in the review period totalled 114.1 billion levs, rising by 7.3% in quarterly terms. The gross loan portfolio of the Bulgarian banking system amounted to 100.1 billion levs at the end of the review period, marking a 2.8% increase from end-2023.
Compared to end-December, growth in household loans was the highest, at 4.5%, whereas loans to the general governments sector dropped by 19.2%.
At the end of March, deposits in the banking system reached 150 billion levs, or 1.8% more than at the end of December.
The highest rise in deposits was posted by the general governments sector - at 11%, followed by credit institutions with 10.5%. Meanwhile, deposits of non-financial corporations declined by 1.4%, data showed.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)