CAIRO: Egypt s National Société Générale Bank said on Thursday first-half net profit rose 62 percent to LE 549.4 million ($103.1 million).
Mohamed Mansour, head of performance analysis at the bank, told Reuters the profit rise was due to a general growth in its activities.
In particular, the development of our loans portfolio after the recent increases in interest rates, he said.
Egypt s central bank raised overnight deposit and lending interest rates five times this year by a total of 2.25 percent to curb rising inflation.
NSGB, majority-owned by French bank Société Générale, said its assets fell to LE 44.2 billion on June 30 from LE 47.3 billion, but Mansour said this had a good effect on profitability.
These were between LE 2.5 million to LE 3 billion of time deposits that were withdrawn. In fact this reduced costs for us, he said. HC Securities rated the bank a strong buy in May, maintaining its price target of LE 57.30 on the stock. -Reuters
