(Philippines) – The Philippines’ non-performing loan (NPL) ratio amongst its commercial banks climbed to 18.23 percent in April from March’s level of 18 percent in March, according to the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).The BSP also notes that the market’s NPL ratio in April was also higher relative to the 16.76 percent in the same month 2001.
The actual value of total NPLs (defined as accounts on which interest has not been paid for three consecutive months) climbed 2.6 percent to P301.3 billion in April from P293.8 billion in March caused by an increase in the level of bad loans of private domestic commercial banks.
Total loan portfolio over the same period grew 1.2 percent to P1.65 trillion in April from P1.63 trillion.