Average interest fell for the 9th month in a row and is at the lowest level since May 2022, says BC | Economy

The head of the Statistics Department of the Central Bank, Fernando Rocha, highlighted this Tuesday, 2, that the reduction in the average interest in credit operations of the National Financial System (SFN) fell for the ninth consecutive month in February, accumulating a drop of 3 .3 percentage points in 12 months.

The average interest on total credit fell 0.4 points compared to January, to 27.8%, the lowest rate since May 2022 (27.8%).

Rocha also highlighted the drop in the average interest rate on credit for individuals, to 32.2%, the lowest rate since April 2022 (31.9%).

Credit stability

The head of the Central Bank’s Statistics Department also stated that the 12-month credit slowdown, which began in mid-2022, was interrupted in the last quarter of 2023 and now the market is showing a certain stability.

According to Rocha, this assessment can be made both in relation to total credit, as well as in the segmentation by legal entities and individuals and in free credit.

He cited growth of 8% in the total credit balance in the 12 months to February and 5.2% in free credit. “We can see that credit has had the same growth rate as in the last quarter of 2023. The slowdown that was observed since mid-2022 has been interrupted and has been stable in the last 4 or 5 months.”

In relation to the month of February, Rocha, in turn, assessed that the 0.2% growth was low, due to targeted credit operations and for individuals.