September 6, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Financial institution lending continued to broaden in July, although at a barely slower tempo, as each enterprise and shopper loans posted softer progress, in line with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Preliminary information confirmed excellent loans of common and business banks rose by 11.8 p.c year-on-year to P13.57 trillion, easing from 12.1 p.c in June. Seasonally adjusted information indicated a 0.7-percent month-on-month enhance in lending.
Wanting forward, the BSP will be sure that home liquidity and financial institution lending circumstances stay according to its worth and monetary stability goals, the central financial institution mentioned.
Excellent loans to residents climbed by 12.4 p.c in July, barely decrease than the 12.6-percent growth in June. In distinction, loans to non-residents fell additional by 8.1 p.c, following a 6.4-percent drop a month earlier.
Credit score to companies expanded by 10.8 p.c to P11.5 trillion, easing from 11.1 p.c within the earlier month. It accounted for 84.7 p.c of whole mortgage disbursements in the course of the month.
The rise in disbursements to the unstable actual property sector quickened to 10.7 p.c in July from 9.9 p.c a month in the past with P2.74 trillion, adopted by the electrical energy, gasoline, steam and air-conditioning provide sector with a sooner enhance of 30.3 p.c to P1.7 trillion.
The expansion in loans prolonged to the wholesale and retail commerce sector slowed to eight.5 p.c with P1.51 trillion. However, loans to the manufacturing sector fell by 6.3 p.c to P1.19 trillion.
Likewise, shopper lending additionally booked a slower progress of 23.6 p.c to P1.76 trillion in end-July from P1.42 trillion a 12 months in the past.
Bank card loans soared by 29.2 p.c to P1.05 trillion from P810.43 billion. Auto loans went up by 19.4 p.c to P507.5 billion from P424.9 billion, whereas salary-based general-purpose consumption loans inched up by 6.4 p.c to P163.5 billion.
The BSP intently displays credit score exercise because it serves as a key transmission channel of financial coverage, with lending circumstances reflecting the influence of rate of interest changes on total financial exercise.
The central financial institution’s Financial Board lowered its coverage charges by 150 foundation factors since August final 12 months, winding down the aggressive fee hikes it did from 2022 to 2023, amid below-target inflation. This introduced the important thing coverage fee down to 5 p.c from a peak of 6.50 p.c.
The BSP additionally reported that the expansion in home liquidity stood at 6.2 p.c in July, increased than the revised 5.9-percent enhance in June. Cash provide stood at round P18.6 trillion as of end-July.
