The Bank of Guatemala (Banguat) has revealed that domestic banks have lost their appeal compared to credit lines offered by foreign banks.
There seems to be a greater interest by Guatemalan companies in negotiating foreign loans, according to Banguat’s figures regarding transfers abroad for paying interest and capital repayments.
An article in Prensalibre.com states: "Julio García Motta, a member of Consultores para el Desarrollo, said the evidence that economic agents prefer to obtain credit abroad, can be seen by the fact that local banks now provide more consumer and commercial loans and invest in treasury bonds and monetary stabilization excess liquidity titles . "
Source: prensalibre.com
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March 2009
Credit to the private sector grew by 11.2% in January, a lower growth than for the same period last year when the increase was 26.4%.
Reporter Jessica Gramajo wrote in the SigloXXI website: "Data from the Bank of Guatemala (Banguat) reported that in January of this year the banking system maintained a loan portfolio of $10.901 million (Q 87.240,8 million).
December 2011
Between November 2010 and November 2011 loan grants have risen by 14%.
The boom being seen in Guatemala’s economy is one of the main reasons explaining the rise in private sector credit, a key indicator of the state of an economy.
In Guatemala’s case, loans granted by financial entities have grown by 14% this year, driven not only by economic growth but also by the interest rate structure which favors debtors.
July 2011
In an attempt to attract more customers banks are diversifying their product portfolios.
One example is the Agromercantil Bank (Bam) who will soon launch a product called 'Hazlo sencillo' (Make it Simple), which will be accessible to the institution's debit card users. "The service will consist of rounding off cardholder's accounts and transferring the balance to a small savings account, where the owner will earn interest on those savings.", said the general manager of the institution, Luis Fernando Caceres, in an article in Siglo21.com.gt
October 2010
By October 7th, loans in Quetzales showed an increase of 6.8% over the same period in 2009.
According to information from Banco de Guatemala, in the same period, foreign currency loans show a 7% fall.
Prensalibre.com reports, "Closing the first week of the month, dollar loans stood at Q23 thousand 139.3 million, according to Banguat.
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