Economic Information

I - Financial system credit operations

In April, financial system credit operations expanded more moderately than in the previous month, in line with the similar conditions that have been prevailing throughout the year, highlighting the moderate economic activity growth and the sluggish business and consumer expectations. The evolution of the credit market, which was more significant in the segment of earmarked credit operations, took place in an environment of stabilization of interest rates, banking spreads and delinquency rates.

In this context, the total stock of financial system loans, encompassing nonearmarked and earmarked operations, reached R$2,453 billion in April, up 1.1% in the month and 16.4% in twelve months. The monthly change reflected respective increases of 1.5% and 0.7% in the portfolios of individuals and corporations, which totaled R$1,124 billion and R$1,329 billion. The credit/GDP ratio closed at 54.1%, as compared to 53.9% in March and 49.7% in April 2012.

Lending operations, including earmarked and nonearmarked resources, corresponding to the amounts effectively disbursed during the month, rose 5.7% in April, reaching R$297 billion. This performance reflected an increase of 7.7% under disbursements to individuals, which totaled R$147 billion, highlighting expansions under the modalities of credit cards, personal loans and overdraft accounts. As for the corporate segment, lending operations rose by 3.9%, reaching R$150 billion, mainly reflecting expansions under the modalities of overdraft accounts and investment financing with BNDES funds.

The stock of nonearmarked credit operations, corresponding to 31.3% of GDP and 57.8% of the total financial system portfolio, reached R$1,417 billion, up 0.5% in the month and 11.1% as compared to April 2012. Nonearmarked lending operations totaled R$257 billion, up 5.3% in the month, resulting from increases of 7.4% in the segment of individuals and 3.3% in the segment of corporations. In the segment of individuals, it is noteworthy disbursements under the modalities of credit cards, overdraft accounts and payroll-deducted loans, and, in the segment of corporations, overdraft accounts and guaranteed accounts.

The balance of nonearmarked loans channeled to individuals totaled R$707 billion, up 1% in the month, highlighting overdraft accounts, payroll-deducted loans to civil servants and credit card loans, as opposed to declines under auto loans and revolving credit card loans. Corporate credit operations remained stable in the month, reaching R$710 billion.

Earmarked credit operations, accounting for 22.8% of GDP, added up R$1,035 billion in April, up 1.9% in the month and 24.6% over twelve months. Operations with individuals increased 2.4% in the month, reaching R$417 billion, highlighting housing and rural credit operations, which expanded by 2.7% and 1.6%, respectively. The balance of corporate loans, equivalent to 59.7% of the total in this segment, rose 1.5% in the month, reaching R$618 billion, for respective growth rates of 2.6% and 1.4% under working capital loans and investment financing with BNDES funds, and expansion of 1.7% under housing financing loans, focused on lending operations channeled to the construction of housing units. BNDES lending channeled to the productive sector - which does not include disbursements carried out by the BNDESPAR - totaled R$15.7 billion in April, up 21.9% in the month, highlighting financing targeted to infrastructure investments. Cumulative BNDES lending operations reached R$48 billion in the first four months of the year, surpassing by 60.7% the amount registered in the same period of 2012.

Operations granted by public banks maintained a more enhanced dynamics, expanding their representativeness to 49.2% of the total financial system credit operations in April, as compared to 44.4% in the same period of last year. Meanwhile, the relative participation of private domestic and foreign institutions decreased by 3.3 p.p. and 1.5 p.p., respectively, closing at 35.1% and 15.7% in the same comparison basis.

Private sector loans totaled R$2,328 billion, up 1% in the month. Housing financing, comprising operations with individuals and businesses, continued to follow an accentuated upward trajectory, reaching R$327 billion, up 2.6% in the month and 33.3% in twelve months, representing 7.2% of GDP, as compared to 5.8% in April 2012. Credit operations targeted to the rural sector, especially reflecting agricultural costing and financing operations, grew by 1.2% in the month, reaching R$175 billion. Credit channeled to the public sector amounted to R$125 billion, up 3.1% in the month, resulting from respective increases of 5.2% and 0.8% in the portfolios of the federal government and states and municipalities.


I.1 - Interest and default rates

The average interest rate of credit operations, encompassing nonearmarked and earmarked operations, remained stable at 18.5% p.a. in April, accumulating a reduction of 4.1 p.p. over the last twelve months. As for household loans, the average interest rate fell by 0.1 p.p. in the month and 5 p.p. in twelve months, closing at 24.3% p.a. The monthly variation was due to a decrease of 0.1 p.p. in the nonearmarked credit segment, to 34.4% p.a., highlighting declines under overdraft accounts and personal loans, and an increase of 0.1 p.p. in the earmarked credit segment, to 6.7% p.a., which reflected the expansion of average rates in the segments of housing financing and rural credit.

The average interest rate on loans granted to businesses remained stable at 14% p.a., the same level observed since January, although 3.4 p.p. down as compared to April 2012. As for nonearmarked operations, the average corporate rate increased by 0.4 p.p., to 19.2% p.a., primarily reflecting the expansion under the modality of working capital loans.

The banking spread referring to total financial system credit operations, comprising nonearmarked and earmarked resources, followed a similar trajectory of lending rates, registering stability in the month and a decline of 3.1 p.p. over the last twelve months, closing at 11.7 p.p. in April. Spreads regarding nonearmarked and earmarked credit operations corresponded to 17.9 p.p. and 2.7 p.p., respectively.

The financial system delinquency rate, referring to operations with delays over ninety days, remained stable at 3.6% of total loans for the third consecutive month, the lowest level since January 2012, accumulating a decrease of 0.3 p.p. over the last twelve months. With regard to loans channeled to households, the default rate declined by 0.1 p.p. in the month, to 5.3%, due to a decrease of 0.1 p.p. in the nonearmarked segment and stabilization in the earmarked segment. As for corporate financing, the delinquency rate increased by 0.1 p.p., closing at 2.3%, reflecting respective expansions of 0.1 p.p. and 0.2 p.p. under nonearmarked and earmarked segments.


II - Evolution of monetary aggregates

The monetary base posted an average daily balance of R$206 billion in April, up 0.2% in the month and 8.7% in twelve months. The aggregate monthly evolution resulted from a decline of 1% under currency issued and expansion of 5.2% under bank reserves.

Among the monthly flows of factors conditioning the monetary issue were operations with government securities, including the Central Bank's operations aimed to adjusting the money market liquidity, which expanded by R$3.6 billion, as opposed to National Treasury operations, which declined by R$1.9 billion. The impact of government securities reflected net redemptions of R$19.5 billion in the primary market and net sales of R$15.9 billion in the secondary market.

The average daily balance of the restricted money supply (M1) totaled R$290.2 billion in April, up 0.1% in the month and 12.4% in twelve months. In the same periods, demand deposits increased by 0.9% and 12.2%, respectively, while the currency held by the public fell by 0.8% in the month, but expanded 12.6% in twelve months.

The balance of money supply in the M2 concept, which corresponds to the balance of M1 plus savings deposits and private securities, totaled R$1.8 trillion, declining by 0.1% in April. This trajectory reflected reductions of 1.9% in the balance of M1 and 0.1% in the balance of private securities, which reached R$947.1 billion, due to net redemptions of R$17.4 billion in time deposits. The balance of savings deposits increased by 0.8%, to R$518.7 billion, registering net inflows of R$2.6 billion.

The M3 concept, which comprises M2, quotas of fixed-income funds and government securities backing repo operations between the public and the financial sector, reached R$3.6 trillion, up 0.6% in the month, reflecting expansions of 1% in the quotas of fixed-income funds, which added up R$1.7 trillion, and 5.3% in repo operations, which amounted to R$164.8 billion. The M4, consisting of M3 plus public securities held by the nonfinancial public, posted increases of 1.1% in the month and 12.3% over the last twelve months, reaching R$4.2 trillion.




Complementary statistical data to this press release is available at the Central Bank of Brazil website: http://www.bcb.gov.br/?sgs.