The Central Bank of the Philippines published the latest quarterly Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey, which shows that most respondent banks expect to keep lending standards unchanged in Q2 2026 for both business and household loans. On the survey’s diffusion index, however, more banks still expect standards to tighten than ease, while loan demand is seen as broadly stable. For business loans, 61.5 percent of banks expected standards to be unchanged, compared with 30.8 percent expecting tightening and 7.7 percent expecting easing. For household loans, 65.7 percent expected no change, against 28.6 percent expecting tightening and 5.7 percent expecting easing. These shares were lower than in the previous survey for banks expecting unchanged standards in Q1 2026, at 71.2 percent for enterprise loans and 77.8 percent for household loans. On a diffusion index basis, this translated into 23.1 percent net tightening for business loans and 22.9 percent net tightening for household loans. Loan demand was also expected to remain generally unchanged under the modal method, with 53.8 percent of banks expecting enterprise demand to stay the same and 52.9 percent expecting household demand to stay the same, while the diffusion index showed a 23.1 percent net increase in demand for enterprise loans and 0 percent for household loans.
Central Bank of the Philippines 2026-04-30
Central Bank of the Philippines survey shows most banks expect unchanged Q2 2026 lending standards despite net tightening signals
The Central Bank of the Philippines’ latest Senior Bank Loan Officers’ Survey indicates most banks expect lending standards to remain unchanged in Q2 2026 for both business and household loans, though the diffusion index still points to net tightening. A net 23.1 percent of banks foresee tighter standards for business loans and 22.9 percent for household loans, while loan demand is expected to be broadly stable, with a net increase only for enterprise loans.