THE Philippine central bank on Thursday has rediscounted its rates on loans applicable on availments by banking institutions for January 2013.

Data from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said that the peso rediscount rate has been set at 3.50 per annum (p.a.) for all maturities effective October 29, 2012, in line with the Monetary Board policy decision to reduce policy rates during its October 25, 2012 meeting.

Meanwhile, for loans under the Exporters Dollar and Yen Rediscount Facility (EDYRF), the rates for January are as follows: US dollar 0.20870 percent p.a. and yen 0.13086 percent p.a.

The EDYRF rediscount rates are based on the respective London Inter-Bank Offered Rate (Libor) as of December 31, 2012.

Under the peso rediscount facility, total availments of commercial, rural and thrift banks amounted to P46.504 million for the whole of 2012, higher by 69.9 percent compared to the P27.372 million of 2011.

Of the availments for 2012, 78.8 percent went to commercial credits, 2.7 percent to agricultural and industrial credits, and 18.5 percent to other credits consisting of other services (7.3 percent), capital expenditures (5.7 percent), housing (2.8 percent) and permanent working capital (2.7 percent).

Under the EDYRF, aggregate dollar availments of 10 commercial banks for 2012 amounted to $172.5 million and benefited 38 exporters.

This represents a 16.6-percent decrease in availments compared to the $206.9 million grants for 2011.