Bank lending grows by 7% in November 2023

Preliminary data indicated that outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks (U/KBs), net of reverse repurchase (RRP) placements with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) increased by 7.0 percent year-on-year in November from 7.1 percent in October.

On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, outstanding universal and commercial bank loans, net of RRPs, rose by 0.6 percent.

Likewise, outstanding loans to residents, net of RRPs, rose at a slightly slower pace of 7.4 percent in November from 7.5 percent in October, while outstanding loans to non-residents^[1] declined by 5.0 percent in October from a 5.1-percent decrease in October.

Outstanding loans for production activities went up by 5.7 percent in November from 5.9 percent 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 airconditioning supply (12.8 percent); and wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (9.6 percent).

Meanwhile, consumer loans to residents increased by 23.6 percent in November from 22.8 percent in October, driven by the faster increase in credit card loans, motor vehicle loans, and salary-based general purpose consumption loans.

Looking ahead, the BSP will continue to ensure that liquidity and credit conditions remain consistent with its price and financial stability objectives.

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^[1] Outstanding loans to non-residents include loans by UKB’s foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) to non-residents.