Growth in bank loans eased to 19% in December

Bank lending grew at a slightly slower pace in December 2017, punctuated by a slower increase in borrowing for motor vehicle purchases and salary loans, the central bank said yesterday.

In a statement, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said outstanding loans of Philippine commercial banks expanded by 19 percent in the last month of last year, slower than the 19.3 percent in November.

Including banks’ cash placements with the BSP, growth in total loans also slowed to 18.1 percent in December from 18.4 percent in the previous month.

Loans for production activities—which comprised 88.9 percent of banks’ aggregate loan portfolios—grew by 18.5 percent in December from month-ago level. The growth in production loans was driven primarily by increased lending to real estate activities (19.3 percent); electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply (25.4 percent); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (20.1 percent); manufacturing (11.7 percent), and financial and insurance activities (16.8 percent).

Bank lending to other sectors rose during the month except to agriculture, forestry and fishing (-13.7 percent), and administrative and support service activities (-30.4 percent).

Growth in household consumption slowed to 17.2 percent in December from 20.6 percent in November.