December money supply growth slows to 8.3%

Money supply growth slowed in December from a month ago even as credit demand as a whole remained robust, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday.

In December, the amount of money circulating in the system, expressed as M3, rose by 8.3 percent year-on-year to P8.3 trillion, preliminary BSP data showed.

The increase posted in December was slower than the 9.4-percent growth in November, although the BSP noted that money supply “continued to expand due largely to sustained demand for credit.”

The growth in domestic claims also slowed to 10.8 percent in December from 11.8 percent a month ago.

“Credits to the private sector increased at a slower pace relative to the previous month,” the BSP said.

According to the BSP, the bulk of the bank loans in the last month of 2015 was infused into key production sectors, namely: Electricity, gas, steam and air-conditioning supply; financial and insurance activities; information and communication; real estate activities; wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles.

As for net public credit, it grew 12 percent in December, a pace faster than the 10.5-percent expansion in the previous month.

Net foreign assets (NFA) in peso terms expanded by 6.4 percent in December, slower than the 8.9-percent growth in the previous month.

“The BSP’s NFA position continued to expand during the month on the back of robust foreign exchange inflows coming mainly from overseas Filipinos’ remittances and business process outsourcing receipts,” the BSP said.

However, the BSP said the banks’ NFA dropped that month mainly because of “the increase in banks’ foreign liabilities due to higher deposits made by foreign banks.”