Bank loans rise 12.2% in February

Bank lending continued to grow by over 12 percent, while domestic liquidity expanded by more than 6 percent in February this year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said in a report by Philippine News Agency.

Preliminary data released late Monday showed that bank lending of universal and commercial banks (U/KBs) rose by 12.2 percent in February this year, slightly lower than the 12.8 percent recorded expansion in January.

Outstanding loans issued by U/KBs during the month amounted to PHP13.02 trillion from PHP13.01 trillion in January this year and PHP11.61 trillion in February last year.

Outstanding loans to residents, net of RRPs (reserve requirement for rural banks), increased by 12.6 percent while loans to non-residents decreased by 3.2 percent in February.

Loans for production activities went up by 11.2 percent in February.

The BSP said the growth was primarily driven by increased lending to key industries such as electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply (21.5 percent); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (13.7 percent); manufacturing (0.9 percent); construction (12.7 percent); and transportation and storage (20.6 percent).

Consumer loans to residents also grew by 24.1 percent driven by increases in credit card and motor vehicle loans.

In a separate report, the BSP meanwhile, said domestic liquidity grew 6.3 percent to PHP18 trillion in February this year.

This was slower than the 6.8 percent expansion in January this year.

Domestic claims rose by 10.1 percent while claims on the private sector grew by 12.3 driven by continued expansion in bank lending to non-financial private corporations and households.

The BSP said net claims on the central government slowed to 5.9 percent from 7.4 percent due to lower deposits of the National Government with the BSP relative to a year ago.

Net foreign assets (NFA) in peso terms rose by 5.8 percent.

The BSP’s NFA expanded by 8.9 percent, reflecting the increase in gross international reserves while the NFA of banks declined, largely due to higher foreign currency-denominated bills and bonds payable.

"The BSP will continue to ensure that domestic liquidity conditions remain consistent with the prevailing stance of monetary policy, in line with its price and financial stability objectives," the central bank said.