Bank loans of universal and commercial banks expanded for the sixth straight month at a quicker pace of 8.5 percent in January, following the revised 4.8-percent increase in December.
“Bank lending improved further as easing COVID-19 restrictions and the continuous vaccine rollout supported market sentiment and demand. On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, outstanding universal and commercial bank loans, net of RRPs, rose by 3.0 percent,” the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said in a statement Monday.
Outstanding loans to residents, net of reverse repurchase placements with the BSP, went up by 8.7 percent in January from 4.8 percent in December, given the faster growth in loans for production activities.
Outstanding loans for production activities climbed 9.6 percent in January, from 6.0 percent in December on the back of the expansion in credit activity for real estate activities (16.8 percent); financial and insurance activities (17.1 percent); information and communication (31.4 percent); and manufacturing (11.5 percent).
Consumer loans to residents increased by 0.1 percent in January after a revised 5.9-percent decline in December, driven by the year-on-year rise in credit card loans. This marketed the first time household loans posted growth since December 2020.
Outstanding loans to non-residents also rose 2.8 percent in January from 2.5 percent in the previous month.
Preliminary data also showed that domestic liquidity or the money supply in the financial system grew by 9.8 percent year-on-year to about P15.3 trillion in January 2022, following a revised 7.3-percent expansion in December. On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, liquidity or M3 rose by 2.8 percent.