Brazil's consumer delinquencies down in February

Brazil's consumer delinquency rate fell 2.3% in February 2014 compared to a year ago.

In the first two months of 2014, consumer delinquency declined 3.2% compared to the same period in 2013, according to the credit research firm Serasa Experian in its latest consumer delinquency report.

Compared to January 2014, consumer delinquency decreased 1.7% in February.

Decreases were due to rising inflation, interest rate rises and weaker economic growth, according to Serasa's economists.

By segment, banking debt and bounced checks led default decline, with a 3.2% and 10.8% decrease, respectively, month-on-month. Meanwhile, non-banking debt delinquency was up 2.6% in the same comparison.

Non-banking debt decreased 14.4% in the average value of delinquencies in the first two months of 2014 to 328 reais (US$139) while banking debt decreased 8% to 1,223 reais, compared to the same period a year ago. Bounced checks posted a 1.8% increase in the average value of delinquencies in January-February to 1,612 reais.