RABAT  - Attijariwafa Bank, one of Morocco's biggest lenders, reported on Friday a 23.8% drop in net profit attributable to shareholders to 1.1 billion dirhams ($110 mln) in the first quarter this year.

The bank's net banking income jumped 1.5% to 6 billion dirhams, while the cost of risk surged 82.5% to 1.1 billion dirhams on the back of the coronavirus outbreak.

Attijariwafa operates subsidiaries in Cameroon, Congo-Brazzaville, Egypt, Gabon, Ivory Coast, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Tunisia and Togo as well as branches in Europe and the Gulf gathering deposits from Moroccans living there.

(Reporting by Ahmed Eljechtimi; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) ((ahmed.eljechtimi@thomsonreuters.com;))