Strong economy boosts BSP transactions

The value of transactions that passed through and settled by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas grew at a double-digit pace in 2012 as robust growth of the economy led to increase in business and investment activities.

The BSP said in a report that transactions settled using its Philippine Payments and Settlements System (PhilPaSS) amounted to P349.6 trillion in 2012, up by nearly 12 percent from 312.6 trillion in the previous year.

“The BSP, as operator of PhilPaSS, continued to provide safe, sound and efficient payment and settlement of financial transactions in real time,” the BSP said in its annual report for 2012.

In 2012, the Philippines became one of the fastest growing economies as it expanded by 6.6 percent year on year to beat the government’s official target of 5 to 6 percent.

The better-than-expected growth of the economy was credited to increase in consumption, portfolio and direct investments, and higher government spending. Household consumption was fueled partly by remittances from overseas-based Filipinos.

Because of the increase in payments resulting from economic activities, the BSP had to settle more transactions through its PhilPaSS.

Besides increase in payments, the central bank said, growth in remittances also helped boost the rise in transactions settled through PhilPass.

The BSP said that besides increase in payments, growth in remittances also led to higher transactions settled through PhilPaSS.

Many banks use the central bank’s settlement facility in the distribution of remittances to various locations in the country.

The central bank earlier reported that remittances from overseas-based Filipinos grew year on year in 2012 by about 6 percent to $21.4 billion.

Meantime, the BSP said the higher amount of transactions settled through PhilPaSS led to increased revenues for the central bank. The BSP charges transaction fees for the use of the settlement facility.

Revenues from the use of PhiliPaSS reached P164.2 million last year, up by about 7 percent from 153.4 million the previous year.

The central bank expects transactions settled through PhilPaSS to rise anew this year on the back of assumptions that the Philippines will grow at yet another robust rate this year.

The government has set a target for the Philippine economy to expand by 6 to 7 percent in 2013, a range that the BSP believes is attainable.