China Construction Bank Corp, the nation's second-biggest lender, yesterday said profit for the first nine months rose 48 percent.

Net income climbed to 84.6 billion yuan (US$12.4 billion), or 0.36 yuan a share, from 57.1 billion yuan, or 0.25 yuan apiece, a year earlier, the Beijing-based bank said in a statement to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The unaudited figures are based on Chinese accounting principles, it said.

The increase in profit is less than the 71 percent jump in net income the bank posted for the first half. The bank's Chief Financial Officer Pang Xiusheng said in August profit and lending growth at the nation's largest mortgage provider will slow in the second half as economic expansion weakens.

China's economy probably grew 9.7 percent in the third quarter this year, the slowest pace in almost four years, according to the median estimate of 12 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

China Construction said "various businesses of the group have continued to maintain their trend of positive development."

(Shanghai Daily October 20, 2008)