The amount of deposits in the country increased in the first half of the year as rising incomes enabled enterprises and individuals to save more.
Bank deposits denominated in peso and foreign currencies reached P5.1 trillion as of end-June this year—up by 8.4 percent from the P4.7 trillion reported in the same period last year, according to the Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.
In a report, PDIC said all bank types—that is, universal/commercial banks, thrift banks, and rural banks—registered growth in deposits.
Regulators said the growing amount of money placed in banks reflected the confidence of the public in the country’s banking sector.
Thrift banks had the biggest share, at 88.7 percent, of deposits. Universal/commercial banks and rural banks respectively accounted for 8.9 percent and 2.4 percent of total deposits.
Growth in deposits was actually more than double the four-percent expansion of the economy in the first semester.
Economists said this would indicate that more people tend to save rather than invest their excess cash, and that banks are only using a small portion of deposits for lending.
In terms of depositor types, individuals accounted for 55.9 percent of the total. Private corporations held 29.7 percent, while government entities accounted for 11.3 percent.
About P4 trillion were denominated in pesos, while foreign currencies, led by the US dollar, accounted for P1 trillion.