Financial institutions granted Brazilian borrowers around US$15 billion worth of loans last year, the most yet, Macauhub reports, citing a report by a policy analysis centre in the United States.

The website quotes Inter-American Dialogue who say — as first quoted by El País Brasil — the Mainland lent Latin American countries US$21.2 billion last year and that Brazil borrowed approximately 72 percent of it, and a majority went to Petrobras.

In the past 11 years, Chinese financial institutions have granted Brazil US$36.8 billion in loans.

In Latin America, only Venezuela now owes Mainland financial institutions more than Brazil, Macauhub says.