Page 9 - GTBank Annual Report 2020 eBook

Board Chairman’s Statement

Last year when we presented our Annual Report to shareholders, we were looking back with satisfaction
at the positive results for 2019, but with a great deal of uncertainty about the outlook for the business in
2020. The Covid-19 pandemic had begun to take its toll on the global economy with the IMF/World Bank

forecasting deep recessions in a number of countries. And as a small open economy, heavily dependent
on the travel & tourism industry, we knew that The Gambia was going to be severely impacted. Indeed, we
had already started to see indications that The Gambian economy was going to experience a contraction
in 2020. This was the reason why we sounded a word of caution in forecasting our performance for 2020,
and adopted a posture of enhanced risk management in our processes. And yet despite the uncertainty of
the business outlook, we had the confidence that the foundation that our bank had built over the years
would provide us with the resilience we needed to withstand whatever challenges lay ahead.

As foreseen in 2020, the Covid-19 Pandemic with its devastating impact on our tourism sector made the
business of banking even more challenging and competitive than usual for all players. Tourism accounts
for some 22% of The Gambia's GDP; an estimated 20,000 people are either directly or indirectly
employed by the sector; and it is a key source of foreign exchange for the country. This meant that inter
alia banks had to contend with a significant slowdown in overall business activity in the country, as well as
deteriorating loan portfolios and a significant reduction in their income-earning assets.

Meanwhile, in its social response to the pandemic, the banking industry came together under the auspices
of the Bankers’ Association with each bank making a donation of GMD 250,000 to the Covid-19 relief fund
set up by The Gambia Chamber of Commerce Industry (GCCI). In addition, GTBank (Gambia) separately
provided further support to the health sector with a donation of GMD 200,000 to Bundung Maternal and
Child Health Hospital.

I am pleased to report to shareholders that despite these and other challenges brought about by the global

pandemic, the processes, policies and strategies that we have worked so diligently to embed as part of our
bank’s overarching culture paid off handsomely in 2020. We had a very strong year in terms of our financial
performance surpassing the GMD 300 million mark in profit for the first time in our history. Profit Before
Tax grew from GMD 191 million in 2019 to GMD 313 million in 2020 -- an appreciable growth of 64%
under economic conditions that were far from ideal. We performed similarly well across a number of our
other financial metrics, positioning us well for the challenges of 2021. As a result of the bank’s strong
performance in 2020, we were able to pay into the Government’s coffers taxes in excess of GMD 110 million

– a 32% increase over the GMD 83 million we paid in 2019 -- while rewarding shareholders with dividend
st
payments totaling GMD 177.049 million at 59.02 bututs per share for the year ended 31 December, 2020.
And there will continue to be challenges – because despite the advances that the medical fraternity has
made in containing the pandemic, Covid-19 is still with us creating uncertainty for businesses across the Annual Report 2020

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