KARACHI, Sept 5: Allied Bank Limited has earned operating profit of Rs632 million during the half-year ended on June 30, 2002, up 13.5 per cent over the profit earned in a year-ago period.

A press release issued by the bank says the bank has also made Rs1 billion cash recoveries in the first half of the current year. It says the deposits of the bank also went up to Rs103 billion at end-June 2002, up 6.4 per cent over the deposits at end-June 2001.

The bank also cut down its cost of funds from 4.9 per cent in June 2001 to 3.6 per cent in June 2002.

The release says that home remittances business of ABL also increased by 63 per cent in six months to June, but it does not quantify the amount of remittances.