M3, lending growth eases in January

Credit to Author: MAYVELIN U. CARABALLO, TMT| Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2019 16:19:33 +0000

Money supply growth moderated in January as bank lending decelerated for the third straight month, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Thursday.

Domestic liquidity or M3 expanded by 7.6 percent year-on-year to P11.40 trillion, slower than December’s 9.2 percent.

Month-on-month and seasonally adjusted, M3 grew by 0.6 percent.

“The BSP will continue to closely monitor domestic liquidity dynamics to ensure that overall monetary conditions remain in line with maintaining price and financial stability,” the central bank said in a statement.

The expansion in domestic claims also decelerated to 12.2 percent in January from December’s 14.6 percent, “due mainly to the sustained growth in credit to the private sector.“

Net claims on the central government grew at a slower 4.7 percent from the previous month’s 16.4 percent.

Net foreign assets in peso terms contracted by 0.9 percent, a reversal from the previous month’s 1.3-percent expansion.

Bank lending growth, meanwhile, slowed to 15.3 percent in January from December’s revised 15.7 percent, sustaining a deceleration since November.

Including reverse repurchase placements (RRPs) with the BSP, lending growth also moderated to 14.4 percent from the previous month’s revised 14.8 percent.

On a month-on-month and seasonally-adjusted basis, commercial bank loans net of RRPs and inclusive of RRPs both increased by 0.9 percent.

Lending for production activities, which accounted for 88.6 percent of the aggregate loan portfolio, grew at a slower 15.5 percent from 15.8 percent in December.

|Household consumption loan growth also eased to 12.7 percent from the previous month’s revised 13.6 percent.

“The deceleration in credit card loans and motor vehicle loans as well as the contraction in salary-based general purpose consumption loans offset the expansion in other types of household loans during the month,” the BSP said.

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