Official data from the country's financial system indicate that by October 2017 the portfolio of loans in local currency grew to 14%, in the same month of 2018 the rate fell to 6% and by the tenth month of 2019 the increase was just 4%.

You may be interested in "Expectation for Changes in Monetary Policy"

This significant slowdown in the issuance of loans is reported despite the fact that during 2019 the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) has lowered the Monetary Policy Rate six times, from 5.25% to 3.25%.


Elfinancierocr.com reviews that "... This year growth has dropped steadily since April, that is, has seven months to slow down the pace. While some portfolios show very slight improvement (industry and transport), portfolios associated with consumption do not. The balances of consumer loans, housing, trade, tourism and construction, remain slow."

Not everything is adverse to banks, because according to Juan Manuel Jiménez, manager of Business Banking Promerica, "... The slowdown in the supply of credit in the state banking segment has caused some customers to start a migration to private banking, generating this possibility of issuance and portfolio growth."

Source: elfinancierocr.com

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More on this topic

Monetary Policy Rate Decreases: Have They Worked?

March 2020

For the Central Bank of Costa Rica, the constant reductions in the Monetary Policy Rate that have taken place since March 2019 have been gradually and incompletely transferred to the interest rates of the financial system.

At the end of January this year was the last reduction of the monetary policy rate, in this case from 2.75% to 2.25%. For this occasion, the Central Bank argued that the drop was made because by 2020 and 2021 inflation is expected to remain within the target range.

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Although the downward adjustments made months ago in the bank reserve and monetary policy rate do not yet appear to have had an effect on the loan portfolio in Costa Rica, banks expect credit to be reactivated soon.

At the beginning of June, the Central Bank reduced from 15% to 12% the minimum legal reserve rate that banks must maintain as a reserve, arguing that the objective was to make credit more dynamic.

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Entities have already registered increases in rates for loans and investments in local currency, adjusting to the increases that the Central Bank has made in the monetary policy rate and the rate for electronic deposits.

The increase has occurred in a generalized way in most of the interest rates offered by banks and financial institutions for loans and deposits in colones, days after the Central Bank raised the rate for deposits made through its electronic platform. 

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The basic passive rate has remained close to 11% for almost a month with slight variations in either directions.

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The basic passive rate is an average of the interest rates for saving in colones at terms of 150 days (5 months) and 210 days (7 months) and is calculated by the Central Bank.