BSP: Domestic liquidity up to P16.184T in March

Domestic liquidity continued to expand in March as claims grew during the period, data released by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) on Monday showed. Central bank data showed that domestic liquidity or M3 — the broadest measure of money in the financial system — stood at P16.184 trillion as of March, marking a 0.2% increase from the P16.077 trillion in February. This is also 6.0% higher than the P15.267 trillion in the same month last year, which also reflected a 6.0% growth.

Domestic claims for the month rose by 12.4% to P16.833 trillion from P14.978 trillion last year, and 0.6% higher than the P16.732 trillion recorded in February. Broken down, this includes P4.505-trillion worth of net claims on central government, reflecting a 21.4% increase which the central bank attributed to the decline in deposits made by the national government with the BSP.

The same data showed that the net foreign assets (NFA) in peso terms decreased by 4.2%, following the 3.1% decline recorded in the previous month, which the central bank said came on account of higher bills payable.

“Going forward, the BSP will continue to ensure that domestic liquidity conditions remain in line with the prevailing stance of monetary policy, in keeping with the BSP’s price and financial stability mandates,” the BSP said in a statement.

Bank lending

Preliminary data also showed that the outstanding loans of universal and commercial banks net of reverse repurchase placements (RRPs) with