Overview
- Official data for the first half of 2025 show 40.8% of households used savings or sold belongings to cover routine expenses.
- Purchase financing became pervasive, with 50.9% of households relying on installments, credit cards or store credit to sustain consumption.
- One in four households took on debt overall (25.5%), rising to roughly one in three within the low-income stratum.
- Informal borrowing from relatives or friends reached 22.5% among low-income households, while middle and higher incomes relied more on banks and finance companies.
- Long-run shifts include social transfers reaching 14.6% of households, up from 4.5% in 2003, and a rebound in formal credit use since 2024 toward 2019 levels based on EPH data across 31 urban areas.