Housing Woes

May 29, 2008 (LBO) – Sri Lanka's Housing Development and Finance Corporation (HDFC) said it made a loss in the March 2009 quarter amid rising interest expenses and sharp falls in interest and fee-based income. The bank made a loss of 52 million rupees in the three months ending March 31, 2009 compared with a profit of 11 million rupees a year ago, the group's interim results showed.

Total income fell five percent to 497 million rupees in the period.

Interest income fell six percent to 485 million rupees while interest expenses rose 13 percent to 438 million rupees, resulting in net interest income plunging 63 percent to 47 million rupees.

Non-interest income of HDFC Bank more than halved to 59 million rupees while provision for bad loans was also up.

At bank level, the interest margin fell to 0.34 percent as at March 31, 2009 from 3.38 percent a year ago.