A law was published in the Official Journal establishing a moratorium on loans granted by banks, cooperatives and finance companies, both public and private, until December 31, 2020, for natural and legal persons affected by the pandemic.
The law promulgated on July 1 in the Official Journal, states that the benefits of the moratorium will be available to persons whose employment contract has been suspended or terminated, independent workers and traders whose activity has been affected by the health measures applied by covid-19.
The rise in microcredits, consumer loans and the construction sector contributed to the 7% year-on-year increase reported in April 2019.
Data from the Bank of Guatemala show that between April 2018 and the same month of 2019, credit to the private sector in the country increased from $24.687 million to $26.534 million, which is equivalent to a 7.4% increase.
Consistent with the behavior of recent years, up to October 2018 the number of credit cards circulating in Costa Rica totaled 2.98 million, 14% more than in the same month of 2017.
From the report of the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC):
The last quarterly study of credit and debit cards, as of October 31, 2018, conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Industry and Commerce (MEIC), through the Directorate of Economic and Market Research, determined that in nine years, the number of credit cards in the country increased 125%, representing a total of 2,984,769 plastics in circulation of which 1,976,522 are holders and 1,008,247 are additional plastics, i.e. linked to a cardholder.
Up to December 2018, the gross portfolio of the financial system in Nicaragua totaled $4.464 million, 9% less than in the same month in 2017, partly because of the performance of commercial and personal credit.
From the Central Bank of Nicaragua report:
For commercial credit, there was a 10.7 percent reduction from last year and for personal loans, the reduction was 14.1 percent.
Financial institutions operating in the Honduran market reported the issuance of $1.313 million in new loans during 2018, 21% more than the $1.081 million recorded in 2017.
Figures from the National Commission of Banks and Insurance (CNBS) detail that the rise reported last year is due to the behavior of new consumer credit and trade.
Limiting the fees charged in Costa Rica and establishing a law that defines market limits in Guatemala are part of the attempts being made in the region to regulate the use of credit cards.
A law proposal presented last January before the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, aims to regulate the percentage of the commission paid by businesses for credit or debit cards.
Up to November 2018, the gross portfolio of the financial system in Nicaragua totaled $4.716 million, 7% less than in the same month in 2017, partly because of the performance of commercial credit.
From the Central Bank of Nicaragua report:
In November, the financial system's loan portfolio decreased by 6.8 percent year-on-year (3.5% in Oct-18), reaching a gross portfolio of 153,055.5 million Cordobas.
Consistent with the trend of recent months, mortgage and personal loans again represented most of the 5% increase in credit to the private sector up to November 2018.
According to the latest report of the Superintendence of Banks, in November last year the portfolio of loans granted to the private sector totaled $54.626 million, which is equivalent to an increase of 5.3% over the $51.873 million reported in November 2017.
At the end of September of this year, the gross portfolio of the country's commercial sector reached $1.703 million, which is 2.1% lower than that reported in the same month of 2017.
Central Bank of Nicaragua (BCN) reported that, at the end of September of this year, the country's gross banking portfolio reached $4,891 million, 0.3% less than that reported in the same month of 2017.
Mortgage and personal loans continue to determine a significant part of the 5% increase in domestic credit to the private sector, recorded between July 2017 and the same month in 2018.
More recent data from the Superintendence of Banks, up to the seventh month of the year the credit portfolio of the private sector reached $52,607 million, which is equivalent to an increase of 5.4% with respect to the $49,921 million reported up to July 2017.
Explained in part by doubts about the economic future in the short term, in Costa Rica credit granted to companies and individuals went from growing at an annual rate of 8% in January to 4% in June of this year.
According to figures from the Central Bank of Costa Rica, in the first six months of the year credit to the private sector has reported a clear downward trend, since in January the amount registered amounted to $34.072 billion and the increase compared to the same month in 2017 was 7.9%.
In the eighth month of 2018, credit granted by Guatemalan banks to the private sector totaled $26,168 million, 5% more than was reported between January and August of 2017.
The latest figures from Banco de Guatemala show that credit to the private sector in the eighth month of 2018 grew by 4.8% with respect to the same month in 2017, rising from $24.970 million to $26.168 million.This increase was below the increase of 5.1% registered between August 2016 and 2017.
Mortgage and personal loans continue to be responsible for much of the 5% increase in domestic credit to the private sector, recorded between June 2017 and the same month in 2018.
According to the latest report by the Superintendency of Banks, in the sixth month of the year the credit portfolio of the private sector totaled $52.311 billion, which is equivalent to an increase of 5.4% compared to the $49.609 billion reported as of June 2017.
Up to July 2018, credit granted by Guatemalan banks to the private sector totaled $26.06 billion, 4.5% more than was reported in the same month in 2017.
The most recent data from Banco de Guatemala shows that credit to the private sector in the seventh month of 2018 grew by 4.5% compared to the same month in 2017, rising from $24.611 billion to $24.942 billion.This increase was below the increase of 5.3% registered between July 2016 and 2017.
Mortgages and personal loans explained much of the 6% increase in domestic credit to the private sector, recorded between May 2017 and the same month in 2018.
According to the latest report by the Superintendency of Banks, in the fifth month of the year, the private sector's credit portfolio totaled $52.167 billion, which is equivalent to an increase of 5.9% compared to the $49.277 billion reported up to May 2017.