Metro Manila (CNN Philippines) — Figures from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) revealed that outstanding loans of commercial banks, excluding reverse repurchase placements (RRPs) with the BSP, grew at a slightly lower pace in May compared to the previous month.
Such loans rose by 14.5%, compared to April’s 15.4% expansion. “On a month-on-month seasonally-adjusted basis, commercial bank lending increased by 0.8 percent for loans net of RRPs and by 0.7 percent for loans inclusive of RRPs,” the BSP said in a statement.
More than 80% of the aggregate loan portfolio went to funds for production activities. Loans in that sector saw an overall growth of 14.1%, slower than April’s 15.1%.
Nevertheless the BSP said that the expansion was spurred by increased lending in the following sectors:
Real estate, renting, and business services (12.9%)
Manufacturing (12.9%)
Wholesale and Retail trade (12.9%)
Electricity, Gas and Water (12.9%)
Financial Intermediation (15.1%)
All other sectors also saw bank lending growth.
Loans for household consumption grew by 20.5% in May — slightly faster than April’s 20.1%. The growth was buoyed by increased credit card loans, auto loans, salary loans, and personal loans, among others.
