Latin America and the Caribbean encountered a challenging external environment in 2023, characterized by sluggish or stagnant economic growth, alongside global trade constraints, rising debt stress and uncertainty originated from the Russian-Ukraine war. In this context of external uncertainties, LAAD continued facing political instability in several countries and intensified competition from domestic financial entities with robust liquidity reserves and low dependence on international funding. Despite these challenges, LAAD managed to expand its operations throughout the fiscal year 2023.
New Loans committed: During 2023 fiscal year, the Company disbursed a total of US$312 million and committed US$285 million in 250 new loans toward eleven different countries. These loan recipients generated approximately US$1.6 billion in annual revenues and their projects assisted in the creation of 6,708 new jobs and US$338 million in additional exports in the region.
Products: Banana and coffee projects generated the highest new loan commitments for the year at 16.9% and 12.1%, respectively, Soybean and Cattle followed with 6% each. These four product categories constituted 42% of total new loan commitments, while the remaining volume consisted of various different products. LAAD’s agribusiness portfolio reached a record of US$1,150.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2023, growing by 5.4% compared to 2022.