Uganda’s Banking Assets Grow by 15% in 2011

Total assets in Uganda’s banking industry rose 15 percent in 2011 as growth in the first nine months compensating for an economic slowdown toward the end of the year, the East African country’s central bank said.

Total assets climbed to 13 trillion Ugandan shillings ($5.3 billion) for the 12 months through December from 11.3 trillion shillings a year earlier, the Bank of Uganda said on its website today.

“Although deposit growth slowed, credit growth was very rapid in the first nine months of the year, an indication that banks ‘intermediated’ a larger share of the deposits,” the bank said.

Deposits grew 11 percent to 8.9 trillion shillings while loans expanded 28 percent to 7 trillion shillings, the bank said. Overall bank profitability climbed to 488.3 billion shillings from 268.7 billion shillings, driven by a rise in lending rates in the second half of the year, it said.

By Fred Ojambo
Bloomberg
03-May-2012