Bank lending growth eases in June

MANILA, Philippines — Credit growth eased slightly in June as bank lending to real estate activities as well as manufacturing continued to drop, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the growth in bank lending slowed down to 10.5 percent in June from 10.6 percent in May.

Loans disbursed by big banks reached P8.73 trillion as of end-June, P830.35 billion higher than the P7.9 trillion booked as of end-June last year.

Diokno said the growth of loan releases for production activities fell to 9.8 percent in June from 11.5 percent a year ago and accounted for 88 percent of the total disbursements.

Data showed loans approved by universal and commercial banks amounted to P7.45 trillion as of end-June from P6.78 trillion a year ago.

“The growth in production loans was driven primarily by lending to the following sectors: real estate activities; financial and insurance activities; electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply; construction; wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycle and manufacturing,” Diokno said.

Bank Lending to the real estate sector amounted to P1.47 trillion, up by 13.5 percent from a year ago, while the increase in disbursements to the wholesale and retail trade as well as repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles slowed down further to 6.5 percent with P1.13 trillion.

Diokno said bank loans to manufacturing companies reached P1.06 trillion, recording a slower growth of only 4.1 percent compared with a year ago.

Likewise, loan growth to the electricity, gas, steam and airconditioning supply improved to 13.5 percent with P968.2 billion.

Diokno also said lending for household consumption amounted to P705.33 billion, up by 15.3 percent from a year ago level and faster than the 14.6 percent growth in May.

BSP data also showed credit card loans increased by 26 percent to  P319.64 billion, while in motor vehicle loans went up by 8.9 percent to P300.52 billion.