| | |  Business News | July 2008 
Mexico Banks' May Private Lending Up 18.5 Pct
 Luis Rojas Mena - Reuters
go to original
Mexico City - Mexican bank lending to individuals and companies, a key engine of local growth this year, grew 18.5 percent in May from the year-ago period, the central bank said on Monday.
Banks' consumer credit fell 9 percent, the Banco de Mexico said in a statement.
Much of the drop came because Banamex, the Mexican unit of Citigroup (C.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), recently moved credit card debt off its books and into its specialized lending company, Tarjetas Banamex.
Healthy bank lending is seen as helping Mexico's economy grow despite the slowdown in the United States, the destination for more than 80 percent of Mexican exports.
The government expects the Mexican economy to grow 2.8 percent this year, down from 3.2 percent in 2007.
Growth in consumer lending peaked at an annual rate of nearly 50 percent in 2005 and 2006. Since then, it has trended lower.
Bank mortgage lending rose 18.1 percent in May while bank loans to businesses were up 27.3 percent, the central bank said.
Credit from non-bank lenders rose 115.1 percent, reflecting the movement of Banamex's credit card portfolio over to Tarjetas Banamex.
The average credit card interest rate in May was 34.24 percent, about the same as in April, the central bank said.
Consumer credit was nascent in Mexico when its economy was dragged down by the last U.S. recession at the beginning of the decade. Now, lending is growing steadily, boosting domestic consumption and home building, and is expected to help offset a drop in U.S. demand for Mexico's exports.
Lending in Mexico dried up in the mid-1990s after a financial crisis devastated the country's banking industry.
Since then, international finance houses such as Citigroup and BBVA (BBVA.MC: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) have bought up most of Mexico's largest banks and in recent years they have started lending again.
(Editing by Jonathan Oatis) |
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us