THE Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that bank lending of universal and commercial banks (U/KBs) had maintained a strong case for a growth rate in December last year.

On the other hand, domestic liquidity grew at a slower rate.

According to Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), it showed that U/KBs’ outstanding loans, among which excludes those placed in the central bank’s reverse repurchase facility, grew by 7 percent, the same rate of increase as in November 2023.

Likewise the data from the BSP revealed that the outstanding loans that had been issued by U/KBs has a total of P11.7 trillion higher compared to the P10.9 trillion in December 2022.

Meanwhile, the outstanding loans given to the residents was recorded at 7.3 percent in December from 7.4 percent in the previous month.

The outstanding loans to non-residents decreased by 2.8 percent in December from a decline of 5.0 percent in November.

On the other hand, the loans for production activities went up by 5.5 percent from 5.7 percent in November.

According to the BSP the growth was driven largely by the expansion in lending to key industries, such as real estate activities, wholesale and retail trade, repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles, and electricity, gas, steam, and air-conditioning supply.