Bad Loans Climb in September
Tuesday, 25 November, 2008
Non-performing loans (NPL) swelled in September as it climbed at a faster rate compared with the growth of the Philippine banking industry's total bad credit loans portfolio for the month.
Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) showed the NPL ratio of universal and commercial banks grew 0.14 percentage point to 4.04 percent in September against 3.90 percent in August.
The NPL ratio for the month was 1.15 percentage points better than the 5.19 percent ratio booked by universal and commercial banks in September 2007.
The BSP said the month-on-month rise in NPL ratio was a result of a 0.96 percent decline in the industry's total loan portfolio to P2.328 trillion.
"The decline in loans stemmed from lower interbank loans and reverse repurchase transactions during the month," the central bank said.
Reverse repurchase transactions is a process in which banks borrow cash from the BSP.
Without counting interbank loans, the BSP said the NPL ratio climbed to 4.56 percent in September from 4.49 percent in August. The September figure is lower than the 6.31 percent ratio posted in the same month last year.
"The increase in the ratio from last month came about as the growth in NPLs outweighed the 0.86 percent expansion in regular loans," the BSP said.
Regular loans in September stood at P2.061 trillion, higher than the P2.044 trillion booked in August.
Source : http://www.gmanews.tv/