Executive summary
As of March 1998, monetary resources reached $84,100 million, accumulating a growth of 23% in the last 12 months. The seasonality of demand in the first quarter of the year led to a drop in the working capital held by the public, while total deposits grew 5.6% in the period. Loans to the non-financial private sector rose 4% in the quarter, climbing to $62.3 billion.
Despite the seasonal effect, the financial system’s international reserves only fell by US$160 million in the quarter, reaching a level of US$31.1 billion. The increase of one percentage point in the minimum liquidity requirements from
February contributed to this result.
The systemic liquidity indicator composed of the average integration of minimum liquidity requirements and the contingent pass program stood at 30.3% of deposits in March.
The quarter saw a significant drop in the sovereign risk premium, which fell 70 basis points to 340 basis points. The greater stability in the markets allowed the Ministry of Finance to place debt in the local and international markets, continuing with its policy of diversification of countries and currencies, and with a clear improvement in the profile of future maturities.
This edition analyzes the financial statements of private banks in the quarter November 1997 to January 1998. During the period, there was a significant increase in loans and a great concentration of their granting in the ten largest private banks. There was a substantial improvement in the levels of non-performing loans in the loan portfolio (the irregular portfolio net of forecasts in terms of financing stood at only 2.5%), although the result for the period was practically nil. Although the excess of minimum capital integration due to credit risk fell, the positive variation in the price of financial assets in the portfolio implied a substantial improvement in the integration of capital due to market risk, so the final effect was an increase in excess capital integration in terms of the requirement.
