Foreign currency loans released by banks climbed to $15.56 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, rising 2.9 percent from $15.13 billion in the previous quarter, as more businesses continued to tap dollar-denominated funding.
These loans, known as FCDU loans, are offered by banks to clients that need foreign currency for international transactions, including trade, imports, exports, and other business activities.
Most of the outstanding loans went to borrowers based in the Philippines, which accounted for 66.8 percent of the total. The biggest local borrowers were merchandise and service exporters, which made up 25.6 percent, followed by firms in towing, tanker, trucking, forwarding, personal, and other industries at 24.1 percent. Power generation companies came next with a 16.7 percent share.
The data also showed that most of these loans were medium- to long-term, with 79.2 percent carrying maturities of more than one year. This was slightly lower than the 79.8 percent posted in the previous quarter.
By the end of December 2025, banks had recorded $8.32 billion in new loans and $7.87 billion in repayments during the quarter, showing continued demand for foreign currency financing even as borrowers paid down existing obligations.
On a year-on-year basis, however, total FCDU loans slipped by 1.6 percent. This happened even as foreign currency deposits in banks grew 7.9 percent to $59.83 billion from $55.46 billion, indicating that deposits expanded faster than lending.
In simple terms, the figures show that while more businesses borrowed in foreign currencies during the last three months of 2025, overall loan growth still lagged the increase in dollar deposits held in the banking system.