Bank loans and money supply sustained their growth in November 2023 despite the elevated inflation and interest rates last year, data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed Friday.
Outstanding loans to residents, net of RRPs, rose at a slightly slower pace of 7.4 percent in November, compared with 7.5 percent in October, while outstanding loans to non-residents fell 5 percent in November from a 5.1-percent decrease in the previous month.
The BSP said that on a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, outstanding universal and commercial bank loans, net of RRPs, went up by 0.6 percent.
The Monetary Board, the policy-making body of the BSP, raised the overnight borrowing rate by 100 basis points last year to 6.5 percent to temper inflation that averaged 6.0 percent, above the target range of 2 percent to 4 percent.
Outstanding loans to residents, net of RRPs, rose at a slightly slower pace of 7.4 percent in November, compared with 7.5 percent in October, while outstanding loans to non-residents fell 5 percent in October from a 5.1-percent decrease in October.
Outstanding loans for production activities grew by 5.7 percent in November, after a 5.9-percent increase in the previous month, mainly due to the growth in loans to major sectors including real estate activities (11.9 percent); electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply (12.8 percent); and wholesale and retail trade and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (9.6 percent).
Meanwhile, consumer loans to residents went up by 23.6 percent in November, compared with 22.8 percent in October, driven by the faster increase in credit card loans, motor vehicle loans and salary-based general purpose consumption loans.
Domestic liquidity (M3), or the money supply circulating in the financial system, grew by 7 percent year-on-year to about P16.8 trillion in November, a slowdown from the revised-8.1 percent increase registered in October.
The BSP said that on a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, M3 decreased by about 0.3 percent.
Domestic claims expanded by 9.6 percent year-on-year in November from 10.2 percent in the previous month. Claims on the private sector grew by 8.2 percent in November from 7.6 percent in October with the sustained expansion in bank lending to non-financial private corporations and households.
Net claims on the central government rose by 17.2 percent in November from 19.1 percent in October due mainly to the decrease in deposits by the National Government with the BSP.
Net foreign assets (NFA) in peso terms increased by 3.2 percent year-on-year in November from 2.1 percent in October.