At the end of last year the banking system’s loan portfolio ended up with a balance of $66,117 million, just 1.4% more than the $65,187 million reported at the end of 2016.

The Comptroller General of the Republic reported that the moderate increase is partly explained by a contraction recorded by the external sector’s portfolio, as between 2016 and 2017 it dropped from $16,557 to $14,560, which is equivalent to a 12% drop.

On the other hand, for the years in question, trade credit registered growth of 3%, rising from $5.766 billion to $5.926 billion.

In the case of the loan portfolio of the services sector, it also reported increases from $5.197 billion to $5.365 billion, which represented a variation of 3%.

See complete figures.