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Kuwait City / AFP
National Bank of Kuwait, the emirate’s largest lender, said on Monday its third quarter net profit rose 6.5 percent mainly thanks to growing public spending despite low oil revenues.
The bank posted a net profit of 68.7 million dinars ($227.5 million) for July to September this year compared to 64.5 million dinars ($213.6 million) for the same period in 2015, NBK said in a statement.
NBK chairman Nasser al-Sayer attributed the rise to an increase in public spending in the oil-rich Gulf state despite low oil revenues.
“The Kuwaiti government remains determined on its capital spending plan and we continue to see an accelerated trend of project tenders and awards,” Sayer said. Local banks played an important role in project financing.
While applying a series of austerity measures like raising fuel and power prices, Kuwait has maintained a good level of capital spending, utilising its huge sovereign wealth.
However, NBK profits in the first nine months of this year dropped 3.8 percent to $726.2 million compared to $754.6 million for the same period last year. The drop was attributed to exceptional gains made in 2015 from NBK’s sale of a stake in a Qatari bank.
The bank’s assets on September 30 were up 4.3 percent to $82.3 billion compared to a year earlier, while shareholders’ equity rose 8.3 percent to $9.7 billion. NBK has around 170 branches in the Arab world and beyond including in New York, London, Paris and Geneva.