The Central Bank of the Philippines released quarterly statistics on banks’ Foreign Currency Deposit Units (FCDU), showing outstanding FCDU loans at USD 15.82 billion at end-December 2024, up 0.5% from end-September 2024 and 4.3% year-on-year. FCDU deposit liabilities stood at USD 55.46 billion, down 3.5% quarter-on-quarter but 1.9% higher than end-December 2023. The maturity profile remained predominantly medium- to long-term, with loans payable over more than one year accounting for 77.1% of the portfolio. Loans to residents totalled USD 9.91 billion (62.7% of outstanding), led by exposures to merchandise and service exporters (USD 2.52 billion), towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal and other industries (USD 2.24 billion), and power generation companies (USD 1.93 billion). Fourth-quarter 2024 gross disbursements fell to USD 9.81 billion from USD 21.77 billion, primarily reflecting a foreign bank branch’s adjustment in its funding strategy for an affiliate; repayments also dropped to USD 9.70 billion from USD 21.68 billion, resulting in net disbursement. On the liability side, residents held USD 54.14 billion (97.6%) of FCDU deposits, which the central bank noted as an additional buffer to the country’s gross international reserves.