Written off loans rise by 46.9% in 2020

The banking sector wrote off loans worth Shs242.6b for the period ended December 2020, according to the Bank of Uganda Annual Supervision Report. 

The report, which highlights the performance of particularly the banking sector and the general outlook of the economy, indicates that because of the weak economic activity occasioned by Covid-19, supervised financial institutions saw a 46.9 per cent rise in aggregate write-offs, which was the highest increase since the 2007/08 financial crisis.

A loan is written off after a business has assessed and concluded that it cannot recover such money. Therefore, it is written to off reduce tax liability.  

The report indicates that a total of Shs242.6b worth of toxic loans was written off, which was way higher than Shs165.2b that was written off in the same period in 2019. 

The write offs, the report indicates worsened in the quarter leading to December in which Shs56.9b was written off. 
In the report, Bank of Uganda Governor Emmanuel Tumusiime Mutebile, said Covid-19 had caused considerable disruption to the financial health of corporate entities and households, noting that the Central Bank had taken appropriate action to moderate the likely impact of the pandemic on the performance of supervised financial institutions in particular and the financial sector as a whole. 

The Central Bank, among others, instituted a number of action points including credit relief measures and establishment of emergency liquidity assistance facilities in April last year in which it sought to mitigate challenges presented by Covid-19. 

This, Mr Mutebile said, helped to relax impact of Covid-19 as well as giving customers ample time to realign credit lines and repayment commitments. 

During the period, the report indicates, non-performing loans rose 4.9 per cent to 5.3 per cent for banking institutions, further weakening assets quality. 

The stock of non-performing loans, during the period, rose by 22.4 per cent or Sh.156.3b, increase to Shs853.1b as of December 2020 from Shs696.8b during the same time in 2019. 

Trade and commerce registered the largest the largest increase in non-performing loans, which rose by Shs24.6b (or 11.8 per cent) during the period.

Largest share 
The utilities sector held the highest stock of non-performing loans, which stood at a ratio of 18.2 per cent. The central Bank says it expects a slow pace of recovery, which will negatively impact loans quality, especially held by utility companies.