The Banking Center showed recovery in 2022

the one of Finance, Jorge Luis Almengorhe stated that the behavior International Banking Center (CBI) countries, during 2022, is encouraging and demonstrates the dynamism that the economy has, which translates into greater access to finance for people and different economic sectors.

Statements of Almengor they were generated during the presentation of the results corresponding to the closure of the CBI in December 2022, organized by the Banking Supervisory Board of Panama (SBP), an institution that celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2023.

He emphasized: “Not only is there an important recovery in terms of the modified loans it has produced pandemicbut also new loans are very close to reaching the pre-pandemic level, and bank profits have also increased.

For his part, the supervisor of the bank, Amauri A. Castilloduring the presentation, he explained that in 2022 the CBI returned to its usual behavior, in terms of assets, volume of financial intermediation and profitability.

The above is supported by numbers funds that reached approx of USD 140,000 million, of which USD 83,341 million corresponds to loans. For its part, the loan portfolio reflects a growth of 8,886 million dollars, which corresponds to 12%.

The most relevant payments in the balance sheet are domestic loans, with 68% of all credit operations. While foreign loans have increased by an average of 24.7% in recent months, highlighting corporate financing in countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala and Brazil.

Regarding new loan paymentsthey grew positively by more than 30%, reaching a total balance of 23,134 million dollars, i.e. an additional 6,294 million dollars compared to the previous year, when they amounted to 16,840 million dollars, but they still do not reach the levels recorded in 2019.

Similarly, indexes CBI profitability they were positive as there was a profit growth above the pre-pandemic level of around 45%, supported by efficient management of assets and liabilities.

“It is important for us that the banking industry and the financial system are strengthened as they are, because this translates into greater liquidity for various economic sectors and guarantees the execution of their projects,” underlined Deputy Minister Almengor.