MANILA, Philippines - Savings and time deposits continued to grow in the first quarter, rising 39.3 percent to P6.2 trillion from a year ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday.
“The rapid growth may be attributed to the shift of depositors’ investments from the BSP’s SDA (Special Deposit Account) facility to bank deposits as a result of the fine-tuning of access of banks and trust departments/entities to the BSP SDA facility,†the central bank said.
The BSP last year cut the interest rates on the SDA by a total of 150 basis points to two percent, then ordered the removal of all singular investment management accounts in the facility by November.
This was done as the central bank wanted to flush out money parked in the SDA to encourage investors to put their funds in other activities that will benefit the economy.
In the first quarter, savings deposits alone, which made up nearly half of banks’ funding base, went up 36.6 percent, while demand deposits jumped 31.2 percent.
Time deposits also increased by 53.5 percent in end-March from the same period last year, the BSP said.
Banks increased their resources by 24 percent to P10.4 trillion in the first quarter from year-ago levels.
“The increase could be traced to the growth in loans, securities and other shares and other assets,†the BSP said.
The central bank said universal and commercial banks contributed more than 90 percent of the banking system’s total resources.
The sustained rise in banks’ resources, made up of deposits, profits, and retained earnings, shows they have enough to service loans amid the robust growth of the Philippine economy.