By: Arret Jatta
The Governor of the Central Bank of The Gambia, Buwa Saidy, revealed that the main source of funding for banks-customer deposits- has increased by 8.7 percent (year-on-year) to D58.7 billion in December 2023, accounting for about 67.9 percent of total liabilities.
He added that the banking industry’s asset quality continues to improve with the non-performing loans declining from 4.6 percent of gross loans reported in December 2022 to 3.3 percent recorded in December 2023 while credit risks remain. The stress test results, he went on, indicated a resilient banking industry.
“The banking industry remains strong and stable with healthy financial soundness indicators. The industry risk-weighted capital adequacy ratio stood at 28.6 percent in December 2023 compared to 24.4 percent reported in December 2022. All the banks were within the regulatory requirement of 10 percent. The banking sector liquidity ratio increased to 82.3 percent in December 2023 from 63.7 percent reported in December 2022,” said Governor Saidy at a press briefing at the Central Bank on Tuesday.
The CBG governor stated that activity in the interbank market continues to be strong.
“The total volume of interbank transactions rose to D14.1 billion compared to D10.4 billion in 2022. The weighted average interest rate, prevailing in the market increased from 4.2 percent in 2022 to 7.5 percent in 2023 following the thre