Economics
AgriBank Profit Unexpectedly Declines on Lending Curbs
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Agricultural Bank of China Ltd. posted its first drop in quarterly profit since listing two years ago after credit growth slowed and bad-loan costs climbed. The shares fell to the lowest in more than two months.
Net income declined 14 percent to 21.2 billion yuan ($3.4 billion) for the fourth quarter, from 24.7 billion yuan, according to data compiled by Bloomberg based on full-year figures reported by the Beijing-based lender yesterday. That fell short of the 28.84 billion-yuan average estimate of 20 analysts in a Bloomberg survey.