LONDON, July 30 (Xinhua) -- The Lloyds Banking Group, a major British financial institution, reported on Thursday a pre-tax loss of 602 million pounds (782 million U.S. dollars) for the first half of 2020 year-on-year, as the coronavirus pandemic has been battering the country's economy.
The most significant impact of the coronavirus is seen in the impairment charge. The bank said it set a 3.8-billion-pound (4.9-billion-dollar) provision for bad loans, including 2.4 billion pounds (3.1 billion dollars) in the second quarter, primarily reflecting a significant deterioration in forward looking economic outlook.
"The outlook has clearly become more challenging since our first quarter results, with the economic impact of lockdown much larger than expected at that time," the group's Chief Executive Antonio Horta Osorio said in a statement.
"With the gradual easing of social distancing measures we have more recently seen consumer spending levels increase, housing market activities reawaken, and the economy return to growth in May and June," said Horta-Osorio.
Despite early signs of recovery in the core markets, the bank has warned the outlook remains highly uncertain and expected impairment to be between 4.5 billion pounds (5.8 billion dollars) and 5.5 billion pounds (7.1 billion dollars) for the whole year. Enditem
