The pawn business used mainly by citizens with no bank accounts for emergency loans in Brazil registered a 40 percent increase in November and December last year, compared with a year earlier, a top business executive said on Tuesday.
The increase took place in traditionally weak months for the pawn business, Robert Alor, Prendamex's director general, told a televised press conference.
In November and December Mexicans traditionally receive "Aguinaldo" payments, a 13th-month wage, or the so-called Christmas bonus.
Prendamex expects to lend 1 billion pesos (21.69 billion U.S. dollars) in January and February, 10 percent more than a year earlier, said Alor, whose company is the second largest firm of its type in Brazil with some 13 percent of the market shares.
Mexico suffered worse than any other Latin American nations during the worldwide economic crisis in 2009. It is estimated the country's economy will drop some 7 percent from 2008.
The year-end borrowing increased even though Mexico's economy grew by nearly 3 percent in the third quarter in 2009 from the previous quarter.