BANGKOK, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- Thailand's central bank said on Monday that the country's banking system recorded a 23.6 percent jump in net profit in 2021 to reach 181 billion baht (about 5.6 billion U.S. dollars) amid recovering economic activities.
The improved profitability was mainly due to lower provisioning expenses as banks set aside an elevated level of provision in the previous year and banks' operating cost control, said Suwannee Jatsadasak, a senior director at the Bank of Thailand.
The country's banking system has remained resilient with high levels of capital fund, loan loss provision and liquidity, which served as a key mechanism to support the country's economic recovery, Suwannee said.
The overall bank loan growth in 2021 stood at 6.5 percent year-on-year, edging up from a rise of 5.1 percent in the previous year, according to the central bank data.
The gross non-performing loans (NPL) increased slightly to 530.7 billion baht (16.48 billion dollars), equivalent to an NPL ratio of 2.98 percent.
Data released on Monday showed the Southeast Asian country's economy expanded 1.6 percent in 2021, recovering from a 6.2 percent contraction in 2020 due to COVID-19, its worst economic performance in more than two decades. ■