Malawi banks make astronomical profits as economic hardships hit ordinary people

Local banks have posted astronomical profits in the first half of the year despite a global economic crisis which has hit hard ordinary Malawians.

The global economic crisis is blamed on covid-19 pandemic, natural calamities such as Cyclone Ana and war in Ukraine.

Published financial results show that National Bank of Malawi, Standard Bank Malawi, FDH Bank and NBS Bank have all seen their profits rising significantly during the first half compared to the corresponding period.

While NBM posted K22.1 billion, Standard and FDH banks have posted K15.8 billion and K8.7 billion respectively whereas NBS bank posted K5.1 billion profit.

This represents an average increase of profit of 54.2 percent, a development which gives hope especially to do with financial sector’s stability.

The strong performance of these Malawi Stock Exchange-MSE listed banks also depicts the market’s resilience to economic shocks such as the recent devaluation which affected some companies.