AGRICULTURAL Bank of China Ltd. (AgBank), the country’s third-largest listed lender, said yesterday net profit rose 1.3 percent in the first quarter of this year, as the country’s economic growth slowed.

    Rising bad loans and weaker-than-expected profit show AgBank is performing in line with China’s slowing economy, projected by China’s leaders to grow around 7 percent this year, the slowest in 24 years.

    The Beijing-based bank said it earned 54.3 billion yuan (US$8.7 billion), or 0.17 yuan per share, in the three months ending March 31 from 53.4 billion yuan in the same period a year ago. Operating income rose 2.9 percent to 140.6 billion yuan.

    The bank said its rise in profit was due largely to a 6.1 percent gain in net interest income to 109.4 billion yuan.

    AgBank’s nonperforming loan ratio was 1.65 percent at end-March, up from 1.54 percent at end-December, its highest in more than three years.

    AgBank’s revenue growth was the slowest since 2010 but the results reflect “good cost control,” Barclays said in a report.

    Revenue growth for China’s banking industry has declined as economic growth cooled from the double-digit rates of the past decade. Growth slowed to 7 percent in the latest quarter.

    (SD-Agencies)