PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTED IN MORE DEBT, EQUITIES IN Q1

With lower capital spending requirements due to the pandemic, the private sector’s investment in debt and equity securities issued by the Philippine government and corporations here and overseas rose during the first quarter of the year, according to the central bank.

In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that, based on preliminary data from its latest survey, domestic claims of other financial corporations grew by 9 percent in the first three months of 2021 to P6.8 billion from P6.2 billion in the same period last year.

“This increase was mainly attributed to the rise in the claims on the private sector, and depository corporations as well as the sector’s net claims on central government,” the agency said.

Claims on the private sector grew by 12.8 percent in the first quarter of 2021 to P3.5 billion from P3.1 billion in the same period of 2020 due to higher investments by other financial corporations in equity and debt securities issued by private nonfinancial corporations.

The survey of “other financial corporations” is a comprehensive measure of the claims and liabilities of institutional units providing financial services other than banks, nonbanks with quasi-banking functions, nonstock savings and loan associations and the central bank.

These include trust entities; private and public insurance corporations; holding companies; government financial institutions, specifically government-owned or -controlled corporations engaged in financial intermediation; nonmoney market funds covering unit investment trust funds and investment companies; and other financial intermediaries and auxiliaries.