Amantin — The Amantin and Kasei Community Bank at Amantin in the Bono East Region posted growth in all the performance indicators during the 2022 financial year.

The bank recorded a net profit of GH¢1,055,662, representing a 35.66 per cent increase over the previous year's achievement of GH¢778.151.

The increase in profit stemmed from an impressive 49.24 per cent growth of the bank's gross income from GH¢8,143,526 to GH¢12,153,537.

The Board Chairman of the bank, Dr John Oduro-Boateng, made these known during the 18th annual general meeting of shareholders at Amantin.

He attributed the bank's performance to effective management and diligent counsel by the directors.

According to the Board Chairman, total deposits also grew by 36.20 per cent, rising from GH¢50,959,848 in 2021 to GH¢69,405,591 in 2022.

"The bank's assets value also went up from GH¢50,959,848 to GH¢69,405,591, which reflected a 29.32 per cent appreciation," he added.

Dr Oduro-Boateng said loans and advances to individuals and businesses during the year under review amounted to GH¢17,257,614.

Commenting on short-term investments, he indicated that the bank increased its portfolio by 8.78 per cent from GH¢24,439,761 to GH¢26,585,698.

He, however, stated that the bank incurred "significant impairment loss on investments with some major investment houses".

"The introduction of the Domestic Debt Exchange Programme (DDEP) by the government placed a lot of pressure on investment houses in the country just when banks were recovering from the banking sector cleanup. The monetary policy rate went up by 1,250 basis points (bps) to 27 per cent from 14.5 per cent in December 2021," he said.

The Board Chairman announced that the Directors of the bank had proposed payment of dividends, indicating that GH¢145,087 would be paid on 4,030,220 ordinary shares.

Payment of dividends would have to be ratified by the Bank of Ghana.