What do you think of this? <http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a0QnPRhrQToM&refer=news> Venezuela Lending Quickens; Bad Loans Surge (Update1)
By Guillermo Parra-Bernal Oct. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Growth in Venezuela's bank lending accelerated in September as pledges by President Hugo Chavez to make more funds available for loans to farmers and companies spurred demand for credit. Growth in lending by Venezuela's 50 state and non-state banks and financial institutions rose 7.1 percent in September, compared rises of 4.2 percent in August and 2.1 percent in July, Caracas-based Softline Consultores said in an e-mail statement. The country's loan portfolio rose 74 percent over the past 12 months through September, Softline said. Outstanding loans rose to a record 51.62 trillion bolivars ($24.51 billion) in September, reflecting a drive by Chavez to foster economic growth by pushing banks to expand access to credit and financial services to the poor. The surge in lending is being accompanied by a jump in loan delinquencies, which may erode banks' profits going forward, banking executives said. ``This growth in lending is explosive, it's dangerous,'' Oscar Garcia Mendoza, chief executive officer of Banco Venezolano de Credito SA, said in an interview yesterday in Caracas. ``I am concerned about the sustainability of lending. Some banks have doubled their loan portfolios in less than a year, and provisions aren't rising at the same pace.'' Overdue loans jumped 5.8 percent in September from August to 512 billion bolivars, about 1 percent of total loans. Provisions for bad loans rose less than 1 percent to 1.23 trillion bolivars in the month, Softline said. Fewer loans were restructured in September, Softline said, without providing additional detail. Farming Loans, Microcredit Garcia said the overall level of provisions for the banking industry should be higher than the equivalent of 3 percent of outstanding loans, or above 1.55 trillion bolivars. The current ratio is 2.3 percent, according to Softline. Banks that boost lending more aggressively may become more vulnerable to an economic downturn, Garcia said. The price of oil, Venezuela's largest export, fell 25 percent in the past two months. Economic growth is forecast to slow to 5 percent next year from about 9 percent in 2006, Finance Minister Nelson Merentes told lawmakers yesterday. The loan portfolio for Banesco Banco Universal SA, the nation's second-biggest bank, more than doubled in the past 12 months. In comparison, the local unit of Spain's Banco Santander Central Hispano SA, Venezuela's biggest bank by assets, boosted lending by 44 percent in the same period. Merentes said the government will make available more subsidies for mortgage and other types of lending under its budget proposal for next year. Record oil revenue has allowed Chavez, who seeking re-election on Dec. 3 and leads in the latest opinion polls, to almost triple spending since 2003. The surge in government spending has flooded the economy with cash, causing the money supply to quintuple since January 2003 and jump 43 percent since March 10. Loans to farmers rose 6.4 percent from August while microcredit, or borrowings by small- and mid-size companies that previously enjoyed little access to financial services, jumped 7.8 percent in the same period, the consultant firm said. Deposits rose 9.3 percent to 101.48 trillion bolivars. To contact the reporter on this story: Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Caracas at at [EMAIL PROTECTED] Last Updated: October 18, 2006 14:11 EDT -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
