Lending by domestic financial institutions grew by 9.5 percent in February, slightly faster than the 9.3 percent recorded in January.

In a report, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said outstanding loans to residents rose 10.1 percent, faster than January’s 9.9 percent, but those extended to non-residents declined by 13.2 percent from the previous month’s 10.4 percent.

Loans for businesses, meanwhile, rose 8.6 percent from 8.2 percent in January.

Growth was driven by lending to key sectors, including water supply, sewerage, and waste management (26 percent); electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply (23.5 percent); transportation and storage (19.3 percent); real estate (9.0 percent); and wholesale and retail trade, including motor vehicle and motorcycle repair (8.2 percent).

Consumer loans grew at a slower pace of 20.8 percent, easing from 21.3 percent in January, due to weaker demand for credit card and motor vehicle loans.

Foreign currency deposit units

Loans extended by banks’ foreign currency deposit units (FCDUs) rose 2.9 percent in the fourth quarter of 2025 to USD15.56 billion, up from USD15.13 billion in the previous quarter.

The BSP said 66.8 percent of these loans went to Philippine-based borrowers, with the rest extended to non-residents.

Among domestic borrowers, the largest shares went to merchandise and service exporters (25.6 percent); towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal, and other industries (24.1 percent); and power generation companies (16.7 percent).

Most FCDU loans, or 79.2 percent, were medium- to long-term, with maturities of over one year.

“As of end-December 2025, outstanding loans reflected US$8.32 billion in new loans and US$7.87 billion in loan payments made during the reference quarter,” the BSP said.

Domestic liquidity

Domestic liquidity (M3) rose 10.3 percent year-on-year to PHP19.8 trillion as of end-February, faster than January’s 8.6 percent growth.

The BSP said claims on the domestic sector — covering private and government entities — increased 11 percent from 10 percent in the previous month.

Claims refer to the liabilities of these sectors to depository corporations such as banks.PNA