NAIROBI, Reuters – Kenya Equity Group Holdings reported Monday that its nine-month-end pretax profit rose 85% at 36.6 billion shillings ($328.25m), thanks to rising interest income as well as falling provisions for bad loan provision.

James Mwangi, chief executive officer of the lender, told investors that net loans had increased by 23% to $559 billion and that interest income has risen to 48.48 million shillings. This is a significant increase from 39.5 billion shillings.

Equity is also active in Tanzania, Burundi (South Sudan), Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Tanzania. There’s even a representative in Ethiopia.

Mwangi stated that “the bulk of the growth has been achieved through our subsidiaries.”

According to the bank, loan loss provisions decreased by 5.14 billion Shillings from 14.76 miliarde shillings during the same time last year.

Kenya’s central banks allowed lending institutions to arrange loans for pandemic-stricken firms in March 2020. They were given until March 2, 2019 to complete the restructuring.

Equity’s pretax profit fell 20% during the first nine month of 2020. However, its provisions for bad debts rose by 110%.

The President Uhuru Kenya removed the night curfew, which had been in force since March 2020. It was an initiative that was anticipated to revitalize the economy.

($1 = 111.5000 Kenyan shillings)