Loan growth slows to nine-month low in August

BANK LENDING growth eased to a nine-month low in August as loans for business activities expanded at a slower pace, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said on Thursday.

- K.K. Chan

Outstanding loans from universal and commercial banks to businesses and individual consumers, net of reverse repurchase agreements, expanded by 11.2% year on year to P13.62 trillion in August, slower than the 11.8% growth in July, preliminary BSP data showed.

This was the slowest growth since the 11.1% increase in November 2024.

On a seasonally adjusted basis, loans inched up by 0.4% month on month.

Lending to residents went up by 11.6% year on year in August, easing from 12.4% in July, while outstanding loans to nonresidents, which include those disbursed by big banks’ foreign currency deposit units, declined by 5.9%, improving from the 8.1% drop recorded the previous month.