The South African bank Absa continues to suffer the consequences of the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and declares it unlikely that an ordinary dividend will be paid this year in order to maintain liquidity. The bank's net earnings per share are expected to fall by more than 40% by the end of 2020.

Absa's revenue for the nine months ending in September remained similar to the 3% increase reported in the first half of the year. Gross lending slowed slightly to 5% year-on-year

The bank's credit depreciations for the nine months tripled year on year, taking into account the substantial load in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, credit depreciations in the third quarter were better than expected

Moreover, Absa Bank has had to let go of 1,200 employees since the beginning of the year. “A large part of the reduction came from natural churn, as Absa instituted a hiring freeze in light of Covid-19. The continued global and local progress towards digital banking has contributed to the reduction,” said Absa, who intends to put more emphasis on the development of digital banking

South Africa's real GDP is expected to follow this downward trend of 8.7% in 2020, with moderate growth of 2.6% expected for next year in a context of significant uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.