Pag-IBIG income rises to P63 billion

MANILA, Philippines — Pag-IBIG Fund posted a 24-percent increase in  net income in the first nine months, while demand for the MP2 savings program remained strong despite rising prices that have squeezed household budgets.

The state-run agency booked a net income of P63.23 billion from January to September, up by 23.5 percent from P51.19 billion in the same period last year, Pag-IBIG Fund deputy CEO for Loans Operations Cluster Benjamin Felix Jr. said.

Felix  attributed the higher net income to strong housing loan takeouts and the disposal of acquired assets. He said the agency typically sees strong housing loan takeouts in the second half.

“We also overachieved on our target for acquired asset disposal,” he told reporters.

As of end-September, Pag-IBIG released P111.29 billion in housing loans and P88.64 billion in short-term loans.

In his presentation, he said the fund has total assets of P1.34 trillion while members’ savings are at P159.57 billion.

“We do hope to achieve our target of more than P165 billion for housing loan take-out and around   P120 billion in short-term loans. However, multipurpose loans or what you call  salary loans, usually slow down in November and December  because people borrow less,” he said.

Pag-IBIG also aims to expand its network of developer-partners  under the Expanded Pambansang Pabahay para sa Pilipino. It already has
500 partners to date.

Te agency has also seen sustained interest in its MP2 savings program   despite faster inflation, he said.