By Reggie Vizmanos
Apr 32 min
Outstanding loans granted by Foreign Currency Deposit Units (FCDU) of banks stood at US$15.2 billion as of end-December 2023.
Year-on-year, outstanding FCDU loans decreased by about US$621 million or by 3.9 percent from the end-December 2022 level of US$15.8 billion.
The figures mark a decrease of US$340 million or by 2.2 percent from the end-September 2023 level of US$15.5 billion as principal repayments exceeded disbursements amidst elevated interest rates for both short-term and medium-to-long-term (MLT) loans.
Year-on-year, outstanding FCDU loans decreased by about US$621 million or by 3.9 percent from the end-December 2022 level of US$15.8 billion.
As of end-December 2023, the maturity profile of the FCDU loan portfolio remained predominantly MLT [or those payable over a term of more than one (1) year], which comprised 78.6 percent of the total, slightly higher than 77.6 percent from the previous quarter.
FCDU loans granted to residents stood at US$9.2 billion or 60.6 percent of total outstanding FCDU loans, of which the majority went to the following sectors/industries: power generation companies (US$2.3 billion or 25.0 percent); merchandise and service exporters (US$2.3 billion or 25.0 percent); and towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal, and other industries (US$1.2 billion or 12.8 percent).
Gross disbursements in the fourth quarter of 2023 reached US$18.0 billion, higher by 5.4 percent than the previous quarter’s US$17.1 billion mainly due to the increase in funding requirements of a foreign bank branch affiliate.
Similarly, loan repayments in the reference quarter of US$18.4 billion were 8.4 percent higher than the previous quarter’s US$17.0 billion. These resulted in an overall net repayment.
FCDU deposit liabilities reached an all-time high of US$54.4 billion as of end-December 2023, higher by about US$2.6 billion (or by 5.1 percent) from the end-September 2023 level of US$51.8 billion.
This is mainly due to the surge in FCDU time certificates of deposits owned by resident individuals which align with the uptick in the remittances from overseas Filipinos.
The bulk of these deposits (US$53.0 billion or 97.4 percent) continued to be owned by residents, essentially constituting an additional buffer to the country’s gross international reserves.
Year-on-year, FCDU deposit liabilities increased by US$6.6 billion (or by 13.7 percent) from the end-December 2022 level of US$47.8 billion.