LAHORE - The bank advances continue robust growth during Jan 2018. As per the latest data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP), Gross advances of scheduled banks increased by 20 percent YoY, to reach Rs6.56trn during Jan 2018. This can be attributed to ongoing project financing (especially related to power and infrastructure projects and consistent demand of consumer products.
As a result, credit penetration in Pakistan increased to 18 percent of GDP versus 16 percent recorded during the same period last year. To note, these growth numbers were witnessed in Jan 2006, clocking in at 23 percent YoY and on MoM basis, growth in Advances recorded an uptick of 0.4 percent, in line with historic trend. Private sector credit also continued robust trend with 15 percent YoY growth during the same period. Investments on the other hand picked up by 4 percent YoY, while dropped by 11 percent MoM.
On the liabilities front, deposits increased by 2 percent YoY to Rs12.00trn, in line with annual deposit growth assumption for 2018, resulting in ADR to clock in 3.5ppt YoY higher at 5 with IDR slipping by 5.3ppt YoY to 64 percent.
Experts said that M2 growth also picked up at the same pace, clocking in at 12 percent YoY as at Jan 2018, which continued to be driven by Net Domestic Asset (NDA) growth of 18 percent.