MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of major banks in the Philippines rose slightly to 2.17 percent in May from 2.16 percent in April, the local central bank said today.
The Philippine central bank said NPLs of big banks reached P96.07 billion ($2.18 billion) in May, higher than the P94.42 billion ($2.14 billion) posted for the previous month.
Major banks have set aside an amount that is larger than their portfolio of bad loans as the loan loss reserves of banks were equivalent to 138.29 percent of their gross NPLs during the period.
Meanwhile, total loan portfolio of big banks amounted to P4.42 trillion ($100.8 billion) in May, higher than the $4.37 trillion ($99.59 billion) recorded in April.
NPLs refer to obligations that remain unpaid for at least 30 days after the due date. The NPL ratio pertain to the amount of bad loans as a fraction of the total loan portfolio.