Money supply expected to sustain growth

Growth of domestic liquidity or M3 is projected to remain in the mid-single digits in the near term, an economist said Thursday, noting excess liquidity in the system that is being siphoned off through the various central bank facilities, according to a report by Philippine News Agency.

Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) chief economist Michael Ricafort said the continued reopening of the domestic economy boosts M3 growth and bank lending as both the public and private sectors engage in fund-raising activities to finance their operations and projects.

He, however, said that these liquidity boosts are countered by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) facilities such as the weekly term deposit facility (TDF) auction and the issuance of the 28-day securities.

He said that for one, the volume offering for the 28-day bills was increased to PHP100 billion last Oct. 28 from the previous week’s PHP70 billion.

BSP further hiked the offering to PHP120 billion last Nov. 25 but it was undersubscribed after tenders only amounted to PHP109.469 billion.

Ricafort said the central bank’s excess liquidity mopping operations aim to, among others, stabilize the peso against the US dollar and to address the elevated inflation rate, which accelerated last October to its highest since December 2008r when it rose to 7.7 percent.

M3 grew by 5.4 percent year-on-year last October, faster than September’s 5.2 percent but slower than year-on-year’s 8.3 percent.

“In the coming months, M3 growth could remain at mid-single digit levels as seen in recent months, amid easing base/denominator effects, but offset by increased weekly siphoning of excess liquidity through the BSP’s term deposit facility (TDF) auctions in recent months and introduction of the BSP securities auction since September 18, 2020,” Ricafort added.