Loans extended by banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) fell to $17.26 billion as of the third quarter of 2020 from $17.96 billion and $17.82 billion a quarter and a year earlier, respectively, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Tuesday.
In a statement, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno traced the $702-million or 3.9-percent quarter-on-quarter decline to principal repayments exceeding disbursements.
“The decline in FCDU lending may be due to borrowing firms’ lower working capital requirements and lending banks’ tightening of credit standards, attributed largely to [a] less favorable economic outlook as…the Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019) pandemic continued to constrain domestic economic activity,” he explained.
Year-on-year, FCDU loans eased by 3.1 percent to $554 million.
As of end-September, the maturity profile of the FCDU loan portfolio remained medium- to long-term debt, or debt that is payable over a term of more than one year. This represented 79.6 percent of the total, compared to 77.5 percent a year ago.
Of the 65-percent outstanding loans to residents, 40.4 percent went to power generation companies (18.9 percent), merchandise and service exporters (14.8 percent), and public utility firms (6.7 percent).
Gross disbursements reached $12.2 billion in the quarter, up 8.6 percent from the April-to-June amount. Diokno attributed this to “the increase in funding requirements of an affiliate of a branch of a foreign bank,” which he did not identify.
Loan repayments grew by 11.9 percent.
FCDU deposit liabilities stood at $46 billion, up $2.4 billion or 5.5 percent from $43.6 billion as of end-June.
“The bulk of these deposits (97.6 percent) continue to be owned by residents, essentially constituting an additional buffer to the country’s gross international reserves,” Diokno said.
Year-on-year, these liabilities rose by $4.8 billion or 11.7 percent from $41.1 billion.
Source: ManilaTimes
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