Bahrain Bank’s Profit Jumps 8%

MANAMA, 12 April 2004 — The National Bank of Bahrain said Saturday that its net profit in the first quarter of 2004 jumped 8 percent, to BD8.28 million, in a continuation of steady growth in the bank’s net income. However, annualized return on average equity eased slightly to 20.6 percent against 20.7 percent in the same period last year. The bank said an all-time low short-term interest rate environment caused yield on the bank’s surplus liquidity deployment to remain low. Expansion of the bank’s loans and deposits resulted in an increase of net interest income from BD5.73 million ($15.24 million) during Q1 2003 to BD6.26 million ($16.65 million) in Q1 2004.