The Dominica Agricultural Industrial and Development Bank has recorded a 43% profit increase for the financial year ending June 30, 2011.
The bank held its Annual General Meeting at the Fort Young Hotel on Wednesday.
Chairman of the Board of Directors, Ambrose Sylvester made the announcement during his presentation of the bank’s annual report.
“During the financial year under review, the Aid Bank continued to execute its medium term, strategic and operational plan [for] 2009/2014; guided by policies and programmes aimed at fostering growth and development in the Commonwealth of Dominica, through increased lending to the economic and social sectors of the economy. Notwithstanding the less than [favorable] international, regional and national economic landscape; the bank recorded a number of major achievements for the past financial year. These included, loan approvals totaling 36.33 million dollars, the second highest level recorded in the 40 year history of the institution, surpassed only by the previous year’s level; disbursement of loans totaling 31.29 million dollars was the highest level of disbursements recorded in any one year in the history of the bank; a decline in non-performing loan ratio to 14.6 percent, the lowest level recorded in the bank’s recent history and a clear indication of the improvement in the quality of the bank’s loan portfolio.”
Sylvester added that the total comprehensive income for the year or net profit of 2.3 million was 47.24 percent higher than that of the preceding years.
“A significant increase in the assets of the bank, as a result of the transfer of the properties of the Industrial Estate Unit from the Government to the bank with the concomitant increase in shareholders’ equity. And finally an upgrade to the banks credit rating from double B plus to treble B minus by the Caribbean Information Credit Rating Services Ltd. (CariCRIS) is a clear indication of the fact that the bank has achieved tangible improvements in a number of critical areas of its operations.”
Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit in his address at Wednesday’s AGM spoke of the aid bank’s role in facilitating private sector investments.
“Government has made [it] no secret that the Aid Bank is the instrument that it would use to assist the private sector in obtaining reasonably priced financing for investment purposes. Toward that end, we have provided loan guarantees and we’ve transferred assets to the Aid Bank, which would allow the institution to access low cost financing for external development agencies. In tern the Aid Bank is expected to select the most bankable and reasonable projects for financing; projects that will increase economic output, increase employment and provide opportunities for improvement to the well-being of all Dominicans. At all times the actions of the bank must be in sync with Government’s policy. The revised version of the Growth and Social Protection Strategy (GSPS) was recently approved by Cabinet and it is expected that this document will underpin all economic and social decisions of the State and all the State’s enterprises.”