In 2022
Ratio of overdue loans to non-financial companies and housing converged to national average
According to data by the Bank of Portugal, at the end of 2022, the balance of credit granted to 5.1 thousand non-financial companies (NFCs) in the Region totalled 1,987.7 million euros, down by 53.3 million euros from the same period of the previous year (-2.6%). It should be noted that despite the number of companies with loans having decreased from 5.2 thousand to 5.1 thousand between 2021 and 2022, it still remains close to the values recorded between the end of 2007 and the end of 2012, a period in which this variable was comprised between 5.1 and 5.4 thousand (maximum).
In turn, the number of overdue loans stood at 41.6 million euros in December 2022, growing by 0.7 million euros (+1.7%) compared to the same month of 2021. The ratio of overdue loans in the Region increased slightly between the end of 2021 and 2022, from 2.0% to 2.1%, respectively, which places the Autonomous Region of Madeira slightly above the national average (2.0%) with the differential going from 0.3 pp at the end of 2021 to 0.1 pp at the end of 2022.
The percentage of borrowers in the NFC sector with overdue loans at the end of 2022 was 15.5%. Compared to December 2021, this indicator increased by 1.5 percentage points (pp) in the Region.
In the households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Families (NPISH) sector, the balance of loans granted was, in December 2022, 3,072.4 million euros, down from the 3,214.0 million euros (- 4.4%) from a year earlier. 72.6% of that balance referred to the “housing” segment and the remaining 27.4% to “consumption and other purposes”. Compared to December 2021, the balance of loans granted for the first segment increased by 2.5%, while the second recorded a reduction of 18.9%. It should be noted that, in the “housing” segment, 2022 corresponds to the third consecutive growth seen in the year-end balance of loans granted in the last 12 years.
The number of debtors in the household and NPISH sector amounted to 100.8 thousand at the end of 2022 (+1.4% in 2022 and -1.0% in 2021), an increase explained by the growth recorded in “consumption and other purposes” segment (+1.9%) since the number of debtors in the “housing” segment decreased (-0.5%).
Overdue loans in the housing segment did not exceed 7.6 million euros, representing a ratio of overdue loans of 0.3%, the same percentage as in Portugal. Between the end of 2021 and 2022, the ratio of overdue “housing” loans decreased by 0.4 pp in the Region. At the country level the fall was less sharp (-0.2 pp).
The percentage of borrowers (households and NPISH) with overdue loans in the Autonomous Region of Madeira was, at the end of 2022, 6.0% and 6.7% in Portugal. Compared to a year earlier, these percentages decreased by 0.3 pp in the Region and by 0.4 pp in the country.
