Commenting on SA banks’ reporting season, Radebe Sipamla, senior investment analyst at Mergence Investment Managers, said credit growth will likely come from corporate lending with retail loan growth likely to remain tepid. Most banks are expecting growth in net interest income. Inflationary pressures, high interest rates and regular power blackouts are taking a toll on the banks’ most sensitive retail and small business customers, leading to defaults. To weather the storm, banks have boosted their provisions for credit losses and have been conservative in lending out money. Banks’ credit losses have increased after a series of interest rate hikes, with the majority of banks’ credit loss ratios – a measure of bad loans as a percentage of total loans – above the top of their target ranges.
MTN cuts capex in SA to R6billion
Reporting on its financial results, MTN said that the post-paid, enterprise, wholesale, digital and fintech segments all recorded good growth
