DUBAI, Oct 26 (Reuters) - National Bank of Kuwait NBKK.KW ,the country's biggest lender, on Monday reported a 38% drop inthird-quarter net profit, hit by higher provisioning for baddebt and the slowdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

NBK's posted a net profit of 57.6 million dinar ($188.54million) for the period ended September 30, down from 93.1million dinars in the same period a year earlier.

The International Monetary Fund expects Kuwait's economy tocontract by 8.1% this year, as it warned the economic outlookwas worsening for many emerging markets amid the coronaviruscrisis. urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL8N2H44KV

($1 = 0.3055 Kuwaiti dinars)

(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Sam Holmes) ((Saeed.Azhar@thomsonreuters.com; +971 44536787; ReutersMessaging: saeed.azhar.reuters.com@reuters.net))