According to the Bank of Mozambique report, in the first half of 2021, the banking sector continued to post profits, despite the pandemic, as profits increased by 3 billion Meticals to 11.2 billion Meticals by June 2021.

This variation, according to the semi-annual report of the Bank of Mozambique (BM) published a few days ago, is justified by the increase in net commissions by 1.7 billion Meticais (corresponding to 33.22%), the results from financial operations by 683 million Meticais (19.23%), and the financial margin by 2.9 billion Meticais (12.31%).

Meanwhile, in addition to profits, the banks' performance was also notable in the slightly improved asset quality compared to the same period in 2020.

"The three systemically important banks, namely, Banco Comercial e de Investimentos (BCI), Banco Internacional de Moçambique (BIM) and Standard Bank concentrated 69.27%, 64.81% and 57.36% of total banking sector deposits, assets and credits, respectively," the report reads.

However, the report also reveals that deposits continued to represent the banking sector's main source of funding in the period under review, with a weight of 97.72% of total funding sources, with the other sources of funds maintaining a residual weight.