Credit card receivables up 4.9% to P136 billion in first half

MANILA, Philippines - More and more consumers are turning to their credit cards instead of using cash to pay for goods or services as the bank’s credit card receivables increased by 4.9 percent as of the end of the first half of the year amid the stronger-than-anticipated economic growth, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported yesterday.

Data showed that credit card receivables of universal, commercial, and thrift banks amounted to P135.89 billion as of end-June this year or P6.33 billion more than the P129.56 billion registered in the same period last year as consumers turned to their credit cards to finance the purchase of goods and services.

The amount was also P5.24 billion higher than the P130.65 billion receivables registered in the first quarter of the year.

The BSP said universal and commercial banks accounted for 83.7 percent of the total credit card receivables as of end-June while credit card subsidiaries of universal and commercial banks cornered a 16 percent share. Thrift banks got a marginal share of 0.3 percent.

Credit card receivables of universal and commercial banks as well as their subsidiaries went up by 8.8 percent to P135.4 billion as of end-June this year from P124.5 billion as of end-June last year while the receivables of thirft banks plunged by 90 percent to P485 million from P5.07 billion.

Data showed that the banking industry’s total loan portfolio expanded 5.8 percent to P2.74 trillion as of end-June this year from P2.59 billion as of end-June last year.

The BSP said the ratio of non-performing credit card receivables to total credit card receivables of the industry worsened to 13.68 percent as of end-June this year from 12.7 percent ratio in the same period last year due to the double-digit hike of 13 percent in non-performing receivables to P18.6 billion from P16.45 billion.

This translated to a 6.6 percent in loan loss reserves of P16.08 billion as of end-June from P15.08 billion in the same period last year

The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth zoomed to 7.9 percent in the first half of the year from 1.2 percent in the same period last year. In all, the country’s domestic output as measured by the GDP expanded by 7.9 percent in the second quarter and by 7.8 percent in the first quarter.

Economic managers through the Cabinet-level Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC) upgraded the country’s GDP growth forecast last July to five percent to six percent instead of 2.6 percent to 3.6 percent this year.