Banks’ FCDU loans reach $16B in Q1
Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2019 16:15:12 +0000
LOANS extended by banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) hit $16.806 billion in the first quarter, up from the $16.359 billion and $16.589 billion posted a year and a quarter ago, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Friday.
In a statement, BSP Officer in charge Maria Almasara Cyd Tuaño-Amador said the latest growth “may be attributed to the borrowing firms’ higher working capital requirements, as well as increased investment in plant or equipment.”
The bulk of outstanding loans, she added, went to the following resident industries: towing, tanker, trucking and forwarding; merchandise and service exporters; public utility firms; and producers/manufacturers, including oil companies.
The loans are mostly medium- to long-term, representing 75.8 percent of the total.
The loans-to-deposit ratio fell to 42 percent in January to March from 42.6 percent a year earlier, but rose from 41.6 percent in October to December 2018.
Deposit liabilities stood at $39.984 billion — up by 0.2 percent from $39.892 billion at end-December — which continue to be held by residents and essentially constitute an additional buffer to the country’s gross international reserves, the BSP official said.
Resident borrowers represented 64.5 percent or $10.840 billion of total FCDU loans extended during the period.
Year-on-year, FCDU deposit liabilities increased by $1.6 billion from the previous year’s $38.398 billion, which Tuaño-Amador said “may be attributed to the rising interest rates during the year.”
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