BANK lending and money circulating in the economy both picked up in March, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) reported on Tuesday.
Outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks (U/KBs) expanded by 10.7 percent, preliminary BSP data showed, up from February’s 9.6 percent. This is the highest since August 2025’s 11.2 percent.
Domestic liquidity, meanwhile, grew faster by 12.0 percent to P20.4 trillion from 10.3 percent a month earlier.
Month on month, outstanding U/KB loans and liquidity both expanded by 1.7 percent.
Outstanding loans to residents grew by 11.1 percent from 10.2 percent in February, while outstanding loans to nonresidents fell by a faster 5.9 percent from a 13.2-percent decline in the same period.
Loans for business activities, on the other hand, grew by 9.7 percent.
In particular, lending expanded for real estate activities (8.8 percent); electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply (26.7 percent); wholesale and retail trade, and repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles (9.3 percent); and transportation and storage (19.4 percent).
Consumer loans, meanwhile, posted slower growth of 20.5 percent from 20.8 percent due to the “slowdown in motor vehicle loans and salary-based general purpose consumption loans.”
As for liquidity, domestic claims rose by 11.5 percent in March from February’s 11.1 percent.
Private sector claims alone grew by 11.8 percent in March from 10.6 percent a month earlier.
Net claims on the central government slightly declined by 12.1 percent from a month ago’s 12.7 percent, primarily driven by higher government security issuances.
Net foreign assets ( As) in peso terms rose by 8.6 percent from 7.5 percent in February.
As of the BSP increased by 4.9 percent, while those of banks rose amid lower foreign currency-denominated bills.
The BSP said it would “continue to ensure that domestic liquidity conditions remain consistent with its price and financial stability objectives.”
