Banks' foreign currency loans up 8.9 pct in first quarter

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - Foreign currency loans provided by Philippine banks went up by 8.9 percent to $11.37 billion in the first quarter of the year, the local central bank said today.

Data provided by the Philippine central bank showed that outstanding loans of local banks' foreign currency deposit units (FCDU) reflected an increase of $927 million from the end-December 2013 level.

Net loan disbursements during the January to March period hit $984 million. Gross disbursements reached $12.9 billion, 15 percent higher than the $11.2 billion released in the previous quarter.

Outstanding loans of Filipino borrowers represented 73.5 percent of the total. These loans went to public utility firms, oil companies and exporters. FCDU loans to foreigners and government firms or agencies accounted for 24.3 percent.