Credit Pact: Reactions to the agreement between the banks and the Government

This Tuesday, after a meeting between the Government and the Banking and Financial Institutions Association of Colombia (Asobancaria), the agreement for the credit was announced, an agreement with which the parties established to inject an additional 55 billion pesos into strategic sectors for economic reactivation, during the next 18 months.

(You may be interested in: National pact for credit won over forced investments).

“Strategic sectors that the Government has defined as ‘the spearhead’ of economic recovery and that received 195 billion pesos in loans in the last 18 months, will now receive $250 billion, an increase of $55 billion in disbursements, that is, a growth of 28%, with inflation that is going down,” explained Jonathan Malagón, president of Asobancaria.

The sectors of housing and infrastructure, manufacturing and energy transition, as well as agriculture, the popular economy and tourism They will receive these funds through loans that help boost economic recovery projects.

This will avoid the use of forced investments, with which the Government sought to boost the economy in these priority sectors.

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In this regard, the president of Andi, Bruce Mac Master, welcomed the decision and highlighted that the objectives of giving more access to credit to people, It can be achieved with existing instruments such as guarantee funds, including the National Guarantee Fund..

He also said that there are other alternatives such as interest rate subsidies.

“The interest rate subsidy has been a very successful strategy, well known and well defined, especially in the construction sector and that is why there was the Frech fund,” he said.

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