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Johannesburg - On Tuesday the Reserve Bank published its Financial Stability Review for the first six months of the year.
This review indicates, among other things, that bank loans and advances in the first half of this year showed slower growth because of the economic downturn and stricter lending criteria.
Bad debts were still rising.
According to the report, banks' consolidated bad debts from December to June rose 37.5% to R124.9bn.
Bad debt as a percentage of total loans and advances swelled to 5.53% in June. In January it had been 4.19%.
The report says that the weakening of banks? asset bases is not a major threat because the banks have maintained high capital adequacy and remained profitable.
The Reserve Bank also expects that conditions will improve for banks, owing to a relaxation of monetary policy and the economic downturn bottoming.
Reserve Bank chief economist Dr Monde Mnyande says households' financial position in the first six months of this year was still abysmal.
In the second quarter household debt as a percentage of disposable income was 76.3%, compared with 76.8% in the first.
- Sake24.com
For more business news in Afrikaans, go to Sake24.com.