The country's thrift banking industry posted an 8.85 percent non-performing loan ratio as of end December last year, a statement from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said.

Review showed that December 2005 posted the second lowest figure in a nine-month series of single-digit NPL ratios. The lowest, 8.84 percent, was recorded end-August.

The NPL ratio this February is better than the previous month's 9.03 percent and year ago's 10.96 percent ratio, BSP said, adding that monthly improvement is attributed mainly to the 2.8 percent increase in total loan portfolio, surpassing the meager 0.7 percent build-up in NPLs.

Excluding of interbank loans, the NPL ratio is contained at 9.3 percent, lower than the 9.47 percent ratio in November 2005 and the 11.37 percent ratio a year ago.

The BSP said that a proportion of restructured loans to TLP climbed up to 3.19 percent from 2.77 percent last month due mainly to the 18.4 percent surge in RLs. The ratio is also higher than last year's 2.51 percent.

The disposal of acquired assets also continues and real and other properties owned or acquired declined by 3.6 percent.

ROPOAs' share to gross assets subsequently improved to 8.93 percent from 9.3 percent the previous month and from 10.99 percent last year, the BSP added in the statement.*

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