Higher credit impairments erode Emirates NBD’s Egypt H1 profit

Emirates NBD, Dubai’s largest lender, reported Thursday a 10.5 percent fall in first-half profits in Egypt.

The profits were squeezed by rise in impairments against credit losses by 567 percent as well as higher administrative and operational costs, the bank said in a statement.

Profit came in at 51.5 million Egyptian pounds ($3 million) in the six months ended June 30, compared with 491.8 million in the year-ago period.

Net profit before tax rose 5.6 percent to record 682.5 million pounds from 644.14 million pounds last year.