Brazil loan defaults drop for 2nd month in December

BRASILIA: Loans in arrears for 90 days or more in Brazil fell for a second straight month in December to the lowest since July while bank lending grew slightly, the central bank said on Thursday.

The so-called default ratio, a benchmark for delinquencies, came in at the equivalent of 5.7 percent of outstanding non-earmarked loans, down from 5.8 percent in November.

Lending grew 0.1 percent in December from November, to 3.107 trillion reais ($978.09 billion), the report showed.