People’s Bank of Zanzibar net profit doubles to Sh34 billion

 

By Josephine Christopher

Josephine Christopher is a business reporter for The Citizen and Mwananchi newspapers.

Mwananchi Communications Limitted

Summary

·         PBZ officially joined the group of first-tier lenders in Tanzania in 2022 after its assets rose by 41 percent to reach Sh1.42 trillion

Dar es Salaam. The People’s Bank of Zanzibar Limited (PBZ) has had its net profit doubled last year owing to the lender steady growth plan, its financial report shows.

The bank registered a net profit of Sh34.15 billion in 2022, a whooping increase from Sh17.07 billion in 2021.

PBZ’s head of Finance Anwar Saleh told The Citizen that the impressive performance puts PBZ on the 6th position among the most profitable commercial banks in Tanzania.

 “During the year 2022, we focused on efficiency in implementing the bank’s strategies. As a result, customers’ deposits rose by 40 percent while the loan and financing portfolio increased by 34 per cent,” he said. He added that the bank also registered an improvement in the quality of bank assets resulting in remarkable growth in profit.

Both funded (interest) and non-funded (non-interest) income streams rose significantly.

While the net interest income reached Sh72.05 billion in 2022 from Sh57.83 billion in 2021, the non-interest income surged to Sh33.2 billion from Sh25.48 billion.

PBZ officially joined the group of first-tier lenders in Tanzania in 2022 after its assets rose by 41 percent to reach Sh1.42 trillion from Sh996.37 billion in 2021.

Its ratio of Non-Performing Loans (NPLs) to total gross loans stood at 2.77 percent by December 2022.