Publications

In May, bank deposits and commercial bank lending to the Non-Financial Private Sector (SPNF) registered a widespread slowdown, influenced by weak economic activity and the fading exchange rate effect. Credit grew at a real annual rate of 7.4%, while deposits slowed to a real annual rate of 4.4%.

In April 2025, the fade out of the exchange rate depreciation influenced the lower dynamism of the balance of the current credit portfolio granted by commercial banks to the SPNF (8.2% YoY in real terms) and the balance of traditional bank deposits (6.1% YoY in real terms).

In a context of an economic slowdown, currency depreciation, and high interest rates, the financial system was characterized in 2024 by maintaining robust domestic financing sources, channeled primarily to the public sector and households through bank loans.

In August, both deposits and credit rose in annual terms with respect to July, supported, in part, by the accounting effect of the exchange rate depreciation. Companies and other financial intermediaries were behind the increase in deposits, while consumer and business credit supported credit.

The main banking indicators for the first half of 2023 are now public, revealing a reduction in credit and deposits, but a significant rise in interest rates on loans compared to a very timid increase in interest rates on deposits.

During February 2023, the balance of the current credit portfolio granted by commercial banks to the non-financial private sector (NFPS) grew 4.8% real per year (12.8% nominal), while traditional bank deposits decreased by a real contraction of 1.4% (equivalent to nominal growth of 6.1%).

The incomplete recovery of the components of aggregate demand compared to the period prior to the pandemic does not favor the reactivation of the demand for financing from the SME segment, whose balances have presented heterogeneous dynamics both among sectors and uses of credit.