ATHENS, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Alpha Bank, Greece's fourth-largest lender by market value, reported higher net earnings in January-to-June compared to the same period of 2022 on strong net interest income.

Alpha Bank, which is 9% owned by Greece's HFSF bank rescue fund, reported net earnings of 302.6 million euros ($332.10 million) versus a net profit of 238.6 million euros in the first half of 2022.

A series of interest rate increases by the European Central Bank since last year has boosted net interest income, which rose by an annual 48.5% to 863.7 million euros.

The group's non-performing loan exposure ratio (NPE) improved to 7.6% of its total loan portfolio at the end of June from 8.2% at the end of the first half of 2022.

Greek banks have cut their bad loan ratios to below 10% in 2022 from 45% in 2016, but that still remains above euro zone peers. They returned to profit in recent years and hope to resume paying dividends in 2024 for the first time since the Greek debt crisis broke out in 2010.

($1 = 0.9112 euros) (Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Editing by Kim Coghill and Subhranshu Sahu)