In the 1st quarter of 2024
Balance of credit granted to non-financial companies and households decreased year-on-year
According to data provided by the Bank of Portugal, at the end of the 1st quarter of 2024, the balance of credit granted to non-financial companies (NFC) was 1.8 billion euros, minus 132.1 million euros (-6.8%) than at the end of March 2023 and down by 65.0 million (-3.4%) over December 2023.
The ratio of overdue credit for this type of companies remained unchanged compared to the end of 2023, standing at 1.1%, at the end of the reference period, and, compared to the same quarter last year, there was a reduction of 1.1 percentage points (pp). At national level, this indicator did not change compared to the previous quarter, however, and in year-on-year terms, it showed a reduction of -0.1 pp, standing at 2.0%, at the end of the 1st quarter of 2024. In regard to the amount of non-performing loans within the scope of non-financial companies, with headquarters in the Region, it stood, in the period under review, at 19.6 million euros (-0.5 million euros compared to last December and -22.5 million of euros compared to March of the previous year).
The percentage of debtors in the NFC sector with overdue loans at the end of March 2024 was 13.6%, a value below the national average (14.0% in the same period). Compared to March 2023, this indicator decreased by 2.0 pp in the Region.
In households and Non-Profit Institutions Serving Households (NPISH) sector, there was a reduction of 137.2 million euros (-4.5%) year-on-year in the balance of loans granted, amounting to 2.9 billion of euros, at the end of the 1st quarter of 2024. When comparing the current balance with that of the previous quarter, an increase of around 14.9 million (-0.5%) euros is observed. When detailing the analysis, it appears that 74.9% of that balance referred to the housing segment and the remaining 25.1% to consumption and other purposes.
Regarding overdue loans in the housing segment, they did not exceed 6.0 million euros, representing a ratio of overdue loans of 0.3%. This ratio has remained stable over the last year and corresponds to the historical minimum of the available series, which started in March 2009.
The number of debtors in the household and NPISH institutional sector decreased compared to the same quarter of the previous year to 100.8 thousand (+0.1 thousand;-0.1%), of which 42.6 thousand were debtors with housing loans (-1.1 thousand; -2.5%) and 84.9 thousand with loans for consumption and other purposes (+0.4 thousand; 0.5%).
The percentage of borrowers (households and NPISH) with non-performing loans in the Region was 5.5% at the 1st quarter of 2024 and 7.0% in Portugal. Compared to a year earlier, these percentages decreased by 0.6 pp in the Region and increased by 0.1 pp in the Country.
