BEIJING - The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC), the country's biggest commercial lender, reported a net profit increase of 0.8 percent last year, despite a 3.7 percent drop in business revenue.

The bank's net profit attributable to shareholders stood at 365.12 billion yuan ($51.43 billion) in 2023 and its business revenue reached 843.07 billion yuan, according to its financial report filed to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

ICBC's non-performing loan ratio stood at 1.36 percent at the end of 2023, down 0.02 percentage points from the end of 2022.

The provision coverage ratio was 213.97 percent, 4.5 percentage points higher than that at the end of 2022.

The bank continued to inject credit into the real economy. The balance of domestic RMB loans was 24.4 trillion yuan at the end of 2023, an increase of 2.9 trillion yuan from the beginning of the year.