CBK posts 2009 results

Commercial Bank of Kuwait has reported KD130.9m in profits before provisions for 2009, compared to KD100.7m in 2008, but said it had taken KD186.6m of post liberation provisions to cover loans and investments, Reuters has reported. In addition to the loan and investment provisions, the bank has KD91.9m of retained earnings available as an additional cushion, the bank said in a statement. "While we believe that the government and the Central Bank of Kuwait have taken the right action to support the economy, the outlook remains uncertain and we remain carefully optimistic," Abdulmajeed al-Shatti, the bank's chairman and managing director, said in the statement.