Ljubljana - SID Banka, the state-owned development bank, nearly trebled net profit last year to EUR 24 million while keeping up high-level of crediting to help the economy recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. The volume of lending was up by about 10%.

The bank's total assets declined by 2.5% in a year to EUR 2.83 billion as of the end of 2021, which is still 18% above the figure in 2019 before the Covid-19 crisis.

In the introduction to the annual report, released on Thursday, SID Banka CEO Damijan Dolinar said 2021 was a period of the economy's adjustment in the wake contraction caused by Covid-19 where the bank helped by retaining a high level of financing.

Directly and in conjunction with commercial banks and through intermediary banks it concluded EUR 314 million in new loans. Loans to the non-banking sector thus totalled almost EUR 1.2 billion, up by about 10% from 2020 and by nearly 50% from 2019.

The bank continues to intervene in anti-crisis financing with a focus on small and medium-sized companies as well as re-enhancing primary development financing.

In the second half of the year, new programmes were introduced to finance investment projects that contribute to transition to circular economy and working capital and investments with the possibility of guarantees from the Pan-European Guarantee Fund through which the European Investment Bank facilitates lending with the help of guarantees of EU member states. Through that fund nearly EUR 18 million worth of new loans were issued.

The scope of the bank's insurance operations increased by 56% to a record EUR 2.8 billion, which too is a result of the impact of Covid-19 and SID Banka's intervening to insure business transactions with EU and OECD markets.

The increase in profit is due to impairments and provisions being almost halved compared with 2020 as well as higher interest revenue and positive valuation of equity instruments within the Slovenian Equity Growth Investment Programme.

SID Banka, which employed 223 staff at the end of 2021, also provides equity financing to boost business growth, with EUR 68.5 million in such financing approved so far.