Despite a difficult economic environment, banking institutions in the Gabonese market are doing rather well with a total aggregate balance sheet up 1.7% to 2,688.9 billion FCFA in the first half of 2020, against 2,644.7 billion a year earlier.
The activity of banking and financial institutions in Gabon was marked, during the first six months of fiscal year 2020, by an aggregate total of balance sheets up 1.7% to CFAF 2,688.9 billion in the first half of 2020 , against 2,644.7 billion a year earlier. This development is mainly linked to the increase in customer deposits (+ 3.8% to 2143.1 billion FCFA) and the consolidation of permanent capital (+ 24.5%).
According to figures from the Directorate-General for the Economy and Fiscal Policy collected from the Association of Professionals of Credit Institutions (Apec), the rate of coverage of loans by deposits has improved, from 148, 1% at the end of June 2019 to 159.9% at the end of June 2020. The bad debts fell by 25.4% to stand at 166.9 billion FCFA at the end of June 2020, all of which reflects a clear improvement of the quality of the credit portfolio.
Resources collected by the Gabonese banking sector increased by 3.8% to CFAF 2,143.1 billion in the first half of 2020, driven by the simultaneous increase in the level of current accounts, special regime deposit accounts and other accounts .
On-sight resources increased by 7.4% to CFAF 1,470.7 billion, under the effect of the combined increases of all types of depositors, with the exception of public deposits.
Thus representing 68.6% of total deposits against 66.3% in the same period the previous year. In addition, term resources, mainly made up of term accounts and special regime deposit accounts (cash certificates), stood at CFAF 552.1 billion at the end of June 2020 against 600 billion a year earlier, down 8%. This is attributable, among other things, to the negative impact of Covid-19 on national economic activity.
