Nairobi, July 9 -- The cumulative pre-tax profit for Kenya's commercial banks in the four months ended April rose 13.8 percent, riding on loan book growth, signalling another lucrative year for the banking sector.

Data from the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) shows that the lenders' pre-tax earnings in the review period stood at Sh111.8 billion, rising from Sh98.2 billion a year earlier. The performance is limited to the banks' operations in the Kenyan market.

The lenders' loan book grew by 9.37 percent to Sh4.5 trillion from Sh4.1 trillion, allowing banks to record higher interest income.

This is the fastest credit growth recorded by the sector in the last two years following deliberate actions by the Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) pressuris...