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Outstanding loans granted by foreign currency deposit
units (FCDUs) of banks went down in 2006 as total loan repayments
outpaced new loans.
In a statement, BSP Governor
Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said FCDUs declined 14 percent on year to
$3.5 billion in 2006, while quarterly growth went down 12.5 percent
from the end-September level of $4.0 billion.
FCDU refers to a unit of a local
bank or local branch of a foreign bank authorized by the Bangko
Sentral to engage in foreign currency- denominated transactions such
as accepting deposits and lending in foreign currency.
The contraction in the last
quarter of last year resulted principally from net loan repayments
of about $493 million.
On the other hand, repayments
totaled $1.7 billion, some $1.1 billion of which pertained to
short-term accounts that included repayments of oil companies, which
accounted for 30.1 percent.
Meanwhile, loan disbursements
amounted to $1.2 billion, some 78 percent of which carried
short-term maturities.
Year on year, FCDU loan releases
declined to $4.3 billion last year from $5.0 billion in 2005.
Overall net repayment posted $620 million last year with principal
repayments of $4.9 billion.
About 90 percent of the
outstanding FCDU loans went to Philippine residents, with exporters
and public utility firms as the major beneficiaries, followed by
producers and manufacturers, including oil companies.
Meanwhile, FCDU deposit
liabilities grew 3 percent to $18.8 billion by December last year
quarter-on-quarter and 14 percent year on year, with local residents
owning 95 percent of these deposits.
--Maricel E. Burgonio
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