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8.1.1 Earnings
The Ukrainian banking sector lost UAH5,174mn ($186mn) in June as the full impact of the economic slowdown hit home.
After a strong start to the year the sector has been struggling since March when the multiple crises broke. In that month the sector made no money at all, but didn't lose anything as businesses pulled in their horns.
April was a strong month with the sector making UAH9,285mn which was on a par with the non-crisis month of February. But from that point on income began to fall. Banks earned UAH3,756mn in May before going into loss in June. The outlook for the rest of the year is poor too.
On a cumulative basis the Ukrainian banking sector was still ahead of last year’s results until June and 2020 should have been the second year of recovery. The strength of the start of the year was carrying the sector and cumulative profits were still ahead of 2019 right up until June when the large losses of the sector pulled income down to below last year’s level.
However, there is a season factor at play too as June has always been a slow month for banks with the sector losing money in that month in three of the last four years. September is also a poor month with the sector losing money in that month in both 2017 and 2018, both crisis years.
48 UKRAINE Country Report August 2020 www.intellinews.com
