Barclays Plc (BARC)’s Ugandan unit said full-year profit more than doubled after it reduced bad loans and boosted customer deposits.

Net income climbed to 21.2 billion shillings ($21.2 billion) in the 12 months through December from 9.7 billion shillings a year earlier, Barclays Bank Uganda Ltd., based in Kampala, said today in a statement published in the New Vision newspaper. Impairment losses on loans and advances fell 33 percent to 14.1 billion shillings, it said.

Customer deposits climbed 2.2 percent to 906 billion shillings, according to the statement. Net interest income, the money banks earn from interest charges on loans, rose 9.8 percent to 86.4 billion shillings, the bank said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Fred Ojambo in Kampala at fojambo@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net