During the month of August, a clearer economic condition was revealed by the release of various half year financial results specifically in the banking sector. The banking sector experienced major growth in their profitability which was fundamentally due to decreased loan loss provisions. The sectors top line growth remained stable as loans and advances gradually increased. Due to the positive results investor sentiments have improved with expectations of dividend announcements in their full year results.
KCB Group became the second bank, after Equity Group, to surpass the KES 1.00 Tn mark on their asset base, mainly driven by the acquisition of several banks in Tanzania and Rwanda.
Additionally, other sectors such as insurance released their H1’2021 financial results: Kenya Re net earnings decreased 65.97% y/y to KES 0.53Bn, while Sanlam recorded net losses of 194.4% y/y to KES 220Mn. On the other hand, CIC Group net earnings shot up by 177.35% y/y to KES 0.26Bn.
Inflation rose to 6.57% in August compared to 6.55% in July due to an increased import bill and higher prices of common food staples such as cabbage.
