MANILA – Outstanding loans granted by Foreign Currency Deposit Units (FCDU) of banks declined in the second quarter of 2024 as principal repayments exceeded disbursements.
Data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) late Monday showed that FCDU lending reached USD15.63 billion as of the end of June, down from the USD16.07 billion end-March level.
BSP’s data however showed that FCDU loans went up by 1.6 percent from the end-June 2023 level of USD15.39 billion.
The FCDU maturity loan portfolio remained predominantly medium- to long-term or those payable over a term of more than a year.
Of the total FCDU loans, those granted to residents accounted for about 60.7 percent or USD9.48 billion.
The BSP said the majority of these went to merchandise and service exporters (USD2.49 billion or 26.2 percent); power generation companies (USD2.12 billion or 22.4 percent); and towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal and other industries (USD1.68 billion or 17.7 percent).
Disbursements, meanwhile, reached USD19.90 billion up by 3.9 percent from the previous quarter’s USD19.15 billion mainly due to the increase in funding requirements of a foreign bank branch affiliate.
On the other hand, loan repayments which amounted to USD20.33 billion rose by 11.5 percent from the previous quarter’s USD18.23 billion, resulting in an overall net repayment.
Liabilities reached USD55.16 billion, lower by 5.9 percent from the end-March 2024 level of USD58.61 billion.
The BSP said the bulk of these deposits continued to be owned by residents, essentially constituting an additional buffer to the country’s gross international reserves.
FCDU deposit liabilities grew by 12.6 percent year-on-year from the end-June 2023 level of USD48.99 billion. (PNA)