The Association of Banks of the Dominican Republic reported that the gross private credit portfolio went from RD$1.56 billion in November 2023 to RD$1.80 billion in November 2024, reflecting an annual growth of 15.8% and RD$246,355 MM in absolute terms. the banking union pointed out.
Of this increase of more than RD$246 billion, 59% (RD$145 billion) benefited the business sector, either to finance their operations with working capital or invest in new projects to expand their activities, he specified. He reported that the remaining 41% (RD$101 billion) was allocated to households, either for their acquisition projects, home remodeling, purchase of vehicles, household equipment, among others.
The proactive role of a more flexible Monetary Policy in the last semester contributed to the increase in credit, which included reductions of 275 basis points in the MPR, provision of liquidity for RD$175 billion and other complementary measures.
The ABA considered that the growth recorded in deposits (public deposits that are subsequently transformed into credit) reflects the confidence of savers in the Dominican banking system.
In this sense, it indicated that deposits totaled approximately RD$2.6 trillion as of November 2024, with an increase of 10.9% compared to the same month of 2023, which in absolute terms is equivalent to RD$253,495 million.
He highlighted that the performance indicators of the Dominican banking sector show adequate comprehensive management of the risks inherent to the financial intermediation activity, which corresponds to the responsible management of public resources.
Thus, in November 2024, the liquid assets ratio (41.3%) indicated an adequate liquidity situation, its default rate (1.4) was the lowest in Latin America, the coverage ratio (207.9) is comfortably above 100, which indicates that banks have sufficient provisions to cover possible losses due to unrecoverability of overdue loans, he reported. He considered that the solvency index as of September 2024 (15.9), comfortably and consistently exceeds the regulatory requirement (10.0).
During the year that just concluded, the national banking sector was a fundamental piece in driving the 5.1% economic growth recorded by the national economy between January and November 2024, with an interannual inflation of only 3.18% for the same period.
