The continued expansion of money supply in the financial system, also known as liquidity growth or M3, remained in single digit averaging only 9 percent in April, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
But this was slightly faster than M3 growth averaging 8.7 percent in March, itself a downward adjustment from the original number the monetary authorities reported.
In absolute terms, money supply aggregated P7.6 trillion in April.
At this level, the BSP said this much money available to millions of households and businesses across the country should be sufficient to underwrite its growth goal of as much as 8 percent this year in terms of local output, or the gross domestic product.
The central bank said money supply continued to increase due to sustained demand for credit and the decline in the level of deposits at the BSP’s special deposit account (SDA) window relative to the previous March.
In a separate report on Friday, the BSP said the outstanding loans of commercial banks grew at a slightly slower pace of 15.4 percent in April from the revised 16.1 percent in the previous month.
Loans for production activities accounted for 80 percent of banks’ total loans for the period.
Lending for production activities grew by 15.1 percent in April from the 15.9 percent in March.
The BSP said the expansion in production loans was driven by increased lending to manufacturing, real estate, renting and business services, wholesale and retail trade, electricity, gas and water, and financial intermediation.
Bank lending to other sectors, likewise, expanded during the month.
Meanwhile, loans for household consumption grew by 20.1 percent in April from the 19.9 percent in March due to continued growth in credit-card loans, auto loans and other types of loans.
Meanwhile, funds parked in the SDA facility of the BSP hit P952 billion in April, lower than the P1.01 trillion at end-March.