Executive summary
The second quarter of 1997 showed a fall in sovereign risk indicators, which, together with the reduction in the international interest rate, led to a greater demand for domestic financial assets by foreign investors. Added to this was the demand of the main local institutional investors, which led to a significant increase in the prices of stocks and bonds.
Monetary resources reached $ 74,600 million in June. Between March and June the increase was $ 6,300 million (9%) and was basically caused by the increase in deposits, which accumulate a variation in the last 12 months of 26%.
Total loans grew at a rate of 5.4% in the quarter, which equates to an annual rate of more than 23%. The increase in lending to the non-financial private sector was mostly for enterprises.
The ratio of Gold and Foreign Exchange Reserves to Financial Liabilities was 98.3% on average in the quarter, almost 4 percentage points higher than the percentage of the previous quarter.
Interest rates continued their downward trend. Interest rates by type of loan to the non-financial private sector in April show falls between 2 and 0.5 percentage points compared to December 1996.
This edition of the bulletin analyses data from the balance sheet of private entities for the February-April 1997 quarter. During the period, assets increased by $3,600 million (5%). The largest increase, 10%, occurred in liquid assets (availabilities plus government securities), partly as a result of the increase of one percentage point in the rate of requirement of minimum liquidity requirements. Although profitability was somewhat lower than in the previous quarter analyzed, efficiency indicators showed improvements, while the quality of the portfolio remained stable.
