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Pastimes : Always a good thought -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: arno who wrote (562)	7/28/2002 1:30:31 PM
From: Jorj X Mckie	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 582

Arno, Sorry to hear that. It isn't like the world doesn't have enough crap going on and now we have a drought in the breadbasket. It is hot here too, but I pretty much live in a desert.

To: arno who wrote (562)	3/19/2004 12:31:28 PM
From: AugustWest	Respond to of 582

"Hey Vinny, 'atta boy. follow the Us, take 'em into debt hell....... (COMTEX) Fox asks bankers to pick up lending ( BNamericas.com ) Mexico, Mar 19, 2004 (BNamericas.com via COMTEX) -- Mexico's President Vicente Fox wants bankers to speed up lending to support a nascent economic recovery, he told the Mexican banking association's (ABM) 67th annual convention in Acapulco. "Mexico needs banks to retake their role as motors of sustained economic growth. We ought to expand the offering of credit. Without credit there is no growth, without growth there is no development," Fox said at the conference's opening ceremony Thursday. The president's words follow similar demands from politicians and the public who perceive that banks have been reluctant to start lending again in force after the 1995 financial crisis. Mexico's financial system was devastated by the so called Tequila crisis that year, which saw 14 banks go out of business and cost the tax payer over US$50bn in bailouts. Since then the banking industry has undergone a radical facelift, with foreigners buying up four of Mexico's top five banks and introducing state-of-the-art practices and technology to the sector. Banks have grown into true financial groups offering a broad range of services including insurance, pension funds and factoring. According to ABM chairman Manuel Medina Mora, the banking industry is the strongest it has been in the country's history. "In the last few years Mexican banks have been strengthened, capitalized and have significantly reduced their bad loan portfolio. The quality of their capital is probably the best it has been in Mexico's financial history," he said at a press conference on the sidelines of the Acapulco convention. There are indeed signs that lending may be picking up. Mexico's commercial banks had total direct performing loans to the private sector of about 504bn pesos (US$45.7bn) at year-end 2003, an 8.1% increase in real terms compared to the previous year, according to the central bank. Consumer and mortgage loans in particular posted strong gains last year, rising 43.5% and 7.1%, respectively. Consumers may very well continue borrowing this year as inflation and interest rates are at their lowest levels in 35 years. A recovery in the economy should also boost lending with the central bank forecasting GDP growth of between 3% and 3.5% for this year, compared to a meager 1.2% in 2003. But businesses, the lynchpin of the economy, have been hesitant to borrow more. Bank loans to corporations and businesses fell 0.8% last year to 310bn pesos. Small and medium-sized companies also complain they have little access to bank credit. "In consumer credit we see an extraordinary dynamism. On the other hand loans and new lending to businesses continue to be weak and low, except in certain areas," Medina Mora said. "It's important to understand that today in Mexico financing doesn't grow only through bank credit," he said, attributing some of the weakness in business loans to the fact that larger companies are turning to the debt markets. URL: bnamericas.com (C) Copyright 1996 - 2001 Business News Americas Ltda. All rights reserved. -0- KEYWORD: Mexico SUBJECT CODE: Commercial/Retail Banking Government/Regulations * end of story *