Brazil's volume of credit reaches record-high in July

www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-27 09:31:54

RIO DE JANEIRO, Aug. 26 (Xinhua) -- The volume of credit operations in Brazil reached an unprecedented 1.31 trillion reais (704 billion U.S. dollars) in July, up 2.6 percent from June and 20.8 percent from the same period last year, Brazil's Central Bank announced Wednesday.
The amount represents some 45 percent of Brazil's monthly gross domestic product (GDP), while the figure for June was 43.9 percent, said the bank, noting it was the 18th consecutive monthly increase in the GDP percentage.
The booming credit level was partially boosted by the loan of 25 billion reais (13.44 billion dollars) that Brazil's Development Bank granted to oil and gas giant Petrobras.
"In terms of volume of credit, we are already better than we were before the crisis," said Altamir Lopes, head of the bank's Economic Department.
He admitted, however, that the credit to small and medium-sized companies needed to be improved.
The default rate also increased along with the credit volume, reaching 5.9 percent, the highest since 2000, said the bank.