philippine banks loan Growth remained stable in November, preliminary data from BangKo Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Showed.
Outstanding credit of universal and commercial banks, excluding reverse repurchase agreements, rose 10.3% year on year to P13.988 trillion in November from P12.676 trillion in the same month in 2024.
November's growth rate matches October's pace. October saw the slowest growth in bank credit since 10.1% recorded in June 2024.
On a seasonally adjusted basis, bank credit increased by 0.9% month on month.
“Outstanding loans to businesses and individual consumers from universal and commercial banks (U/KB) expanded in November,” the central bank said in a statement late Tuesday.
“Preliminary data shows that loans from U/KB grew at a steady rate of 10.3% year on year in November,” it said.
BSP data showed that big banks' outstanding loans to residents rose by an annualized 10.7% in November to P13.681 trillion, slightly slower than the 10.9% increase seen in the previous month.
On the other hand, loans to non-residents declined 4.5% year-on-year to P307.253 billion, down from an 11.1% decline recorded in October.
Banks' loans to residents for production activities rose 9% to P11.789 trillion in November, down 9.1% from the previous month.
Credit to the electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply sector increased by 26.6%. Other sectors that saw growth in lending include transportation and warehousing (12.7%); wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (11.6%); real estate activities (9%); Information and communication (7%); and financial and insurance activities (3.5%).
Meanwhile, big banks' consumer loans to residents – which includes credit cards, motor vehicles and general purpose salary loans, but excludes residential real estate loans – rose 22.9% to P1.892 trillion in November, slightly slower than the 23.1% rise in October.
Broken down, credit card loans rose 29.5% to P1.158 trillion, an increase of 29.2% from October, while loan growth to motor vehicles slowed to 16.3% at P524.037 billion from 17.6% the previous month.
Loans for general purpose salaries, on the other hand, climbed 6.4% in November to P164.932 billion. This is slightly faster than 5.8% a month ago.
“The BSP monitors bank loans as they are a key transmission channel of monetary policy,” the central bank said. “Looking ahead, the BSP will ensure that domestic liquidity and bank credit conditions remain consistent with its value and financial stability objectives.” — Katherine K. chan