The fall in group profit was despite net interest income growing by 16.9 percent to Sh24.6 billion.
It increased loan loss provisioning 8.7 times to Sh8.02 billion in contrast with Sh918.5 million that had been made in the preceding similar period.
Equity Group’s half year net profit has tumbled by 24.3 percent to Sh9.02 billion after the lender increased provisioning for loan defaults nearly nine times to reflect the economic hardships facing borrowers due to Covid-19.
The drop was from Sh11.92 billion posted in a similar period last year, making Equity the fourth top lender to fail to grow earnings in Covid-19 environment.
