PARIS, March 22 (Reuters) - France's central bank posted
on Wednesday a 4.4 billion euro profit for 2022, which it said
it would set aside to absorb possible future losses due to
higher interest rates.
Most major central banks have already posted losses or
expect to do so as rising interest rates reduces the value of
bonds bought in recent years when inflation was too low.
The European Central Bank and Germany's Bundesbank both
recently posted losses for 2022.
In contrast, the Bank of France said its income from
monetary operations had been boosted by an increase in revenue
from assets bought when inflation was too low because 8% of its
holdings are in bonds with interest rates that track inflation,
which hit record levels last year.
That offset a rise in the second half of the year in the
interest the central bank paid out on banks' excess liquidity as
interest rates rose.
The central bank said the 4.4 billion euro ($4.74 billion)
net profit would be put into its account for risk provisions,
bringing the total to 16.4 billion euros.
"These reserves should allow us to break even in the coming
years without needing a recapitalisation from the state," Bank
of France Governor Francois Villeroy de Galhau told journalists.
The central bank said it would not pay a dividend to the
state for 2022, but would pay 1.0 billion euros in corporate
income tax.
($1 = 0.9277 euros)
(Reporting by Leigh Thomas; Editing by Toby Chopra)
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