Dollar-denominated loans approved by the country’s foreign currency deposit units (FCDU) posted sustained growth in the third quarter in 2019, with bulk of the portfolio held by residents.

Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) Governor Benjamin Diokno said FCDU loans aggregated $17.8 billion as of end-September 2019, higher by 1.9 percent or $338 million from end-June level of only $17.5 billion.

“The growth in loans may be attributed to borrowing firms’ higher working capital requirements as well as banks’ lower interest rates,” Diokno said.

On an annual basis, the latest FCDU figure grew 11.6 percent versus end-September 2018 loans of just $16 billion.

Local borrowers took the lion’s share of the overall stock for the quarter, reaching $11.24 billion while some $6.57 billion were borrowed by non-residents.

By maturity, long-term loans or loans that are set to mature in more than a year, took the bulk of the total loans with $13.81 billion while short-term loans, or those with maturity dates of less than a year amounted to $4 billion.

As of end-September 2019, the maturity profile of the FCDU loan portfolio remained predominantly medium- to long-term debt, which represented 77.5 percent of total, higher than the 76.7 percent level as of end-September 2018, the BSP said.

In terms of source, borrowings from local commercial banks stood $15.42 billion, while thrift banks approved some $58 million. Foreign banks meanwhile, granted only $2.33 billion loans.

“Year-on-year, FCDU deposit liabilities increased by $2.4 billion (or by 6.1 percent) from the end-September 2018 level of $38.8 billion,” the central bank said.