Outstanding loans granted by Foreign Currency Deposit Units (FCDU) of banks stood at $15.2 billion as of end-December 2023, a decrease of $340 million or by 2.2 percent from the end-September 2023 level of $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 $621 million or by 3.9 percent from the end-December 2022 level of $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 year), which comprised 78.6 percent of total, slightly higher than 77.6 percent from the previous quarter.

FCDU loans granted to residents stood at $9.2 billion or 60.6 percent of total outstanding FCDU loans, of which majority went to the following sector/industries: power generation companies ($2.3 billion or 25.0 percent); merchandise and service exporters ($2.3 billion or 25.0 percent); and towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal and other industries ($1.2 billion or 12.8 percent).

Gross disbursements in the fourth quarter of 2023 reached $18.0 billion higher by 5.4 percent than the previous quarter’s $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 $18.4 billion were 8.4 percent higher than previous quarter’s $17 billion. These resulted in overall net repayment.

FCDU deposit liabilities reached an all-time high of $54.4 billion as of end-December 2023, higher by about $2.6 billion (or by 5.1 percent) from the end-September 2023 level of $51.8 billion.

This is mainly due to the surge in FCDU time certificate of deposits owned by resident individuals which aligns with the uptick in the remittances from overseas Filipinos. The bulk of these deposits ($53 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 $6.6 billion (or by 13.7 percent) from the end-December 2022 level of $47.8 billion. BSP