BCR to Up Investment In Low-Income Housing

Along with its year-end results, the Banco de Costa Rica announced plans to increase the availability of credit to low-income households, starting with mortgages.

Carlos Fernández, CEO for Banco de Costa Rica, said the bank’s goal for 2008 is to grant 1,800 home loans to households making less than $2,000. The Banco de Costa Rica is a public bank, wholly owned by the government.

Fernández said he expects the bank to loan $141 million more for homes, a 50% increase over the $286 million in home loans the bank gave out in 2007.

As for the bank’s year-end results, Banco de Costa Rica ended 2007 with a 15.9% increase in its asset portfolio, to a value of about $3.38 billion.

The bank continued to be focused mainly on serving the business sector, though it saw a healthy jump in all lending categories. Most notably, the bank’s lending to the service, retail and industrial sectors – already the bank’s biggest loan recipients -jumped by 84.6%, 68% and 36.1%, respectively.