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Keisha Ta-Asan - The Philippine Star
March 8, 2025 | 12:00am
Preliminary data from the central bank showed loans disbursed by universal and commercial banks reached P13.02 trillion in January, 12.8 percent higher compared to P11.54 trillion a year ago.
Philstar.com / Irra Lising
In January
MANILA, Philippines — The lending growth of big banks continued to climb in January, hitting a new two-year high of 12.8 percent, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Preliminary data from the central bank showed loans disbursed by universal and commercial banks reached P13.02 trillion in January, 12.8 percent higher compared to P11.54 trillion a year ago.
The January growth rate was faster than the 12.2-percent expansion seen in December 2024 and marked the third straight month that credit growth accelerated. It was also the highest since the 13.7-percent growth recorded in December 2022.
Outstanding loans for production activities went up by 11.8 percent to P11.09 trillion in January from P9.92 trillion a year ago. It was faster than the 10.8-percent increase in December and accounted for 85.2 percent of total lending.
The growth in loans for production activities was driven by the increase in credit to sectors such as real estate, which grew by 9.8 percent to P2.6 trillion. This accounted for 20 percent of total loans.
Lending to the electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply sector also rose by 23.6 percent to P1.57 trillion, while loans for wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles went up by 13.9 percent to P1.49 trillion.
Credit to the transportation and storage sector increased by 21.4 percent to P490.84 billion, while loans to the manufacturing industry inched up by 4.6 percent to P1.27 trillion.
The BSP also reported that consumer loans jumped by 24.4 percent to P1.6 trillion in January, about 12.3 percent of the total loans disbursed by big banks.
Data showed that credit card loans surged by 29 percent to P940.07 billion from P728.97 billion.
Auto loans were also higher by 19 percent at P461.66 billion, while salary-based general-purpose consumption loans rose by 14.1 percent to P157.89 billion.
“Looking ahead, the BSP will continue to ensure that domestic liquidity and lending conditions remain aligned with its price and financial stability mandates,” the BSP said.
Meanwhile, separate BSP data showed that domestic liquidity, or the amount of money in circulation, grew slower by 6.8 percent to P18.1 trillion in January.
Domestic claims quickened to 10.9 percent while claims on the private sector grew by 13.1 percent with the continued expansion in bank lending to non-financial private corporations and households.
Net claims on the government also climbed by 7.4 percent, due mainly to higher borrowings of the national government.
