US$385 million loan defaults

NCBA Group of Kenya has disclosed that five loan accounts took up 60% of its Sh44,34 billion (US$384,6 million) non-performing loans (Npls) by the end of last year, highlighting the difficulties facing large businesses. The lender said “five big names” accounted for an equivalent of Sh26,4 billion (US$229 million) of the stock of loans that had remained unpaid for at least three months in the year ended December 2021. NCBA managing director John Gachora said in an interview that the Npls, a growth from Sh40,06 billion (US$347,5 million) in December 2020, related to firms with historical issues. “We had a few very large customers historically who obviously with Covid-19 got negatively affected,” he said. “These were mainly customers in transport, distribution and trade. Those got negatively affected through Covid-19 and form the bulk of that Npl book.” — The Standard.