ANZ: RRR cuts to have limited impact on credit growth

The decision of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) to lower banks' reserve requirement ratio (RRR) may not translate into a significant increase in bank lending, according to ANZ Research.

- By KEISHA TA-ASAN

Sanjay Mathur, chief economist for Southeast Asia and India at ANZ, said that the additional liquidity brought by the RRR cuts might not necessarily lead to more loans due to uneven demand.

“An increase in loanable funds does not automatically translate into actual lending of a similar magnitude. Actual lending also depends on demand, which is currently concentrated in some segments of household credit,” Mathur said.

The RRR is the percentage of deposits and deposit liabilities that banks cannot lend out and must set aside in deposits with the BSP.

The BSP slashed the RRR of big banks as well as non-bank financial institutions with quasi-banking functions by 250 basis points to seven percent from 9.5 percent. Likewise, the RRR for digital banks was reduced by 200 basis points to four percent from six percent, while the RRR for thrift banks was cut by 100 basis points to one percent from two percent.