Gross revenue amounted to EUR 1.13bn, which is 2.6% less than in 2015, mainly due to a reduced scale of operations and lower interest rates, Banka Slovenije said on Tuesday.

However, since impairments and provisions dropped by 73% to EUR 85.1m, profit was nevertheless up.

Net interest revenue dropped by 10% to EUR 670m, while non-interest income rose by 11% to EUR 458m.

Total assets of the banking system expanded by EUR 398m to EUR 37bn in December, which reduced the annual contraction rate to 0.9% from 3.4% in 2015.

An increase in loans to the non-banking sector was registered in 2016 after a long time, mainly due to a EUR 830m increase in this type of loans in December.

Loans to companies dropped by one percent, while the growth in the loans to households continued.

The liquidity of the banking system at the beginning of 2017 remains favourable, the central bank said.