Grameen Bank profit falls 7pc in first half

Grameen Bank logged in Tk 102 crore as profit in the first half of 2017, down 7.2 percent year-on-year, thanks to full-fledged implementation of the new pay scale, said the microlender.

An additional Tk 61 crore had to be spent in the first half of the year to implement the new pay scale in full, said a senior official of the bank.

If the additional expenses were not included, the profit margin would have been much higher, he said.

The bank lent Tk 11,353 crore during the six-month period, up 21.85 percent year-on-year. The microlender distributed Tk 3,458 crore alone among small and medium enterprises.

As of June, its outstanding loans were Tk 13,458 crore.

Some of the zones in which the bank operates in have been hit by floods. As a result, the bank has stopped collecting instalments from those areas.

The bank added more than 5 lakh new customers so far this year, taking the number of its members to 88 lakh.   Since 2008, Grameen Bank has been paying 30 percent dividend to its shareholders, which includes the government.

Last year the government, which owns 25 percent stakes in the bank, received Tk 6 crore in dividend. 

Grameen Bank's full-year profit in 2016 was Tk 139.29 crore.