By Jesús Aguado

MADRID (Reuters) -Spain's Caixabank on Wednesday said its net profit rose 46% in the first quarter compared to the same period in 2024 as a lower impact from the renewed banking tax offset a drop in lending income caused by lower interest rates.

The lender reported a net profit of 1.47 billion euros ($1.67 billion) in the January to March period. Analysts polled by Reuters expected a net profit of 1.28 billion euros.

In this quarter, Caixabank booked a charge of 148 million euros for the recently renewed tax on banks as it adjusted the impact on a quarterly basis while in 2024 it had booked a 493 million euro cost for the full year during the first quarter.

In an environment marked by lower borrowing costs, Caixabank's net interest income, a measure of earnings on loans minus deposit costs, in the quarter fell 4.9% against the same period a year ago to 2.78 billion euros, compared to forecasts of 2.67 billion euros.

Against the previous quarter, NII was down 3.5%.

($1 = 0.9056 euros)

(Reporting by Jesús Aguado; editing by Inti Landauro)