Bank lending up 20% in April
Credit growth picked up in April as banks managed to disburse more loans following the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) decision to cut banks’ reserve requirement ratio.
BSP Governor Nestor Espenilla Jr. said bank lending grew by 19.9 percent to P7.46 trillion in April from P6.22 trillion in the same period last year.
“The BSP will continue to ensure that the expansion in domestic credit and liquidity proceeds is in line with overall economic growth, while remaining consistent with the BSP’s price and financial stability objectives,” Espenilla said in a statement.
Espenilla said loans released for production activities picked up 19.6 percent to P6.6 trillion in end-April from P5.51 trillion in end-April last year, accounting for 88.5 percent of loans disbursed by the banking sector.
Statistics showed the expansion of disbursements to the real estate sector slowed down to 15.7 percent in April from 17.9 percent in March. The banking sector released P1.26 trillion in loans to the real estate sector, accounting for 16.9 percent of the total loan portfolio.
On the other hand, loans released by banks to the wholesale and retail trade as well as repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles jumped by 22.7 percent to P1.02 trillion.
Furthermore, loans extended to the manufacturing sector picked up by 14.4 percent to P991.88 billion, while disbursements to the electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply grew by a slower 17.5 percent to P840.55 billion.
Espenilla said the loan growth for household consumption slipped to 19 percent in April from 19.8 percent in March as disbursements reached P599.8 billion from a year-ago level of P503.84 billion.
The growth in motor vehicle loans also slowed down to 23.4 percent at P273.06 billion as consumers bought ahead of the impending imposition of higher excise tax under the comprehensive tax reform program in January. Furthermore, credit card loans expanded at a slower pace of 21 percent to P244.77 billion, while salary-based general consumption loans expanded by 4.3 percent to P69.68 billion.
“The slower increase in credit card loans, and motor vehicle loans as well as the contraction in other types of household loans offset the faster expansion in salary-based general purpose consumption loans in April,” he said.