Maputo, Feb. 18, 2025 (Lusa) - Around 40% of the credit granted by BNI and Ecobank was in default at the end of 2024, but most Mozambican banking institutions also maintained ratios above the 5% recommended by the central bank.

In the report on prudential and economic-financial indicators by the Bank of Mozambique, the state-owned BNI - which is part of the central bank's list of institutions with fewer than 1,000 clients - closed the fourth quarter with a non-performing loan ratio (NPL) of 37.42%, compared to 41.09% in the previous quarter, but which was already 52.4% in the first quarter of 2024.

The commercial banks on the central bank's list also include Ecobank, with an NPL ratio of 42.66%, compared to 43.78% in the previous quarter (33.88% in the first quarter), Moza Banco, with a ratio of 34.24% (23.69% in the third quarter), and Access Bank, with a ratio of 21.04% (17.92% in the third quarter).

From the list released by the central bank, based on data provided by the financial institutions themselves, only United Bank for Africa (UBA), First National Bank (FNB), Standard Bank, First Capital Bank (FCB) and Absa have an NPL ratio lower than the recommended 5%, at 1.08%, 2.06%, 3.86%, 4.39% and 4.66% respectively.

Millennium BIM, one of the country's largest, run by Portugal's BCP, saw its ratio of non-performing loans in the last quarter of the year remain at 5.27%, as in the previous one, while that of BCI, run by Portugal's state-owned Caixa Geral de Depósitos bank, rose to 10.97%.

Data from the central bank indicates that 15 commercial banks and 12 microbanks currently operate in Mozambique, as well as credit cooperatives and savings and credit organisations, among others.

PVJ/AYLS // AYLS

Lusa