Brazil’s lending growth will be solid this year, reaching the upper end of its forecast range, helped by dropping interest rates and a consumer debt renegotiation program, according to a senior executive at the Brazilian state-run lender Banco do Brasil.
Following the bank’s modification of its loan growth forecast from 8–12% to 9–13% in 2023, Jose Ricardo Sasseron, vice president of government and corporate sustainability, stated, “It is extremely likely that we will be towards the top end.”
Brazil’s central bank forecasts a 7.7% increase in domestic bank lending this year in its most recent credit outlook.
“Banco do Brasil is about to announce partnerships with development banks to support initiatives connected to forestry, bioeconomy, renewable energy, and female entrepreneurship.” Sasseron said this in a phone interview from New York.
“The bank would announce at least three agreements for about $1 billion next week,” Sasseron added.
He expressed confidence about the credit growth prognosis in Latin America’s largest economy, which has seen economic predictions regularly improve throughout the year.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s new government has also established Desenrola, a consumer debt renegotiation program that encourages direct discussions with banks in return for regulatory incentives to increase lending.
“Banco do Brasil will finish this week with around 10 billion reais ($2.05 billion) in debts renegotiated with approximately 1 million customers,” according to Sasseron.
