Bank lending picks up, rises for 4th month in NovemberMANILA, Philippines — Loans disbursed by big banks accelerated for the fourth straight month, increasing at a faster rate of four percent in November from 3.5 percent in October, as the country’s economic rebound continued to gain traction. Bank lending finally started recovering in August as the aggressive easing, including the 200-basis-point cuts in interest rates and lowering of reserve requirement ratio undertaken by the BSP in 2020, was finally absorbed by the economy. “The BSP sees enough scope to continue providing appropriate policy support in order to sustain the recovery in credit activity,” the central bank said. However, household lending remained weak, shrinking by 7.1 percent to P813.77 billion in end- November. On the other hand, credit card loans increased by 2.6 percent to P426.16 billion from P415.5 billion.

Source: Philippine Star January 02, 2022 18:22 UTC