SAO PAULO: Commercial banks in Brazil are likely to reduce loan disbursements to companies and consumers by 8.5 percent this year, a senior economist with Credit Suisse Group AG said on Tuesday, the latest sign that Latin America's largest economy is struggling with slumping confidence and activity.

Last year, bank lending rose 11.3 percent, the slowest pace of loan disbursements in Brazil since at least 2007.

Some of Brazil's largest lenders plan to unveil their guidance for loan book growth for 2015 over the next couple of weeks.

According to Nilson Teixeira, Credit Suisse's chief Brazil economist, state-controlled oil company Petr?leo Brasileiro SA could slash fuel prices by year-end. Teixeira spoke at an event sponsored by Credit Suisse in S?o Paulo.

Copyright Reuters, 2015