BRASILIA: Bank lending spreads in Brazil widened in January to 23.4 percentage points from 20.9 percentage points in December, while the 90-day default ratio inched up to 3.0% from a series low 2.9%, the central bank said on Thursday.

The amount of outstanding loans in Brazil remained steady in the month at 4 trillion reais ($736 billion) and over the last 12 months loan growth accelerated 16%, the central bank said.