LANDBANK Loans to Priority Sectors Increased By 28% to P564B in 2017

LANDBANK’s loans to priority sectors such as farmers, fishers, agriculture, microenterprises and SMEs reached P564 billion as of December 2017. This is 28.1 percent higher from the P440 billion loans to the Bank’s priority sectors registered in 2016.

The P564-billion loans to its priority sectors represents a record-high share of 93.8 percent against the Bank’s total loan portfolio of P601 billion.

“LANDBANK is taking bigger, bolder steps in our drive to further increase support to our priority sectors, especially our small farmers and fishers. This is in line with our commitment to fuel development in the countryside which is a vital part of our growth as a nation,” said LANDBANK President and CEO Alex Buenaventura.

The Bank’s identified priority sectors include small farmers and fishers (SFFs), a good part of which are agrarian reform beneficiaries, MSMEs, agri- and aqua-projects of LGUs and GOCCs, communications, transportation, housing, education, health care, environment-related projects, tourism, and utilities.

A major driver of last year’s growth in the Bank’s loans to priority sectors was the 53.5 percent increase in loans to agri-businesses which jumped to P82.6 billion from P53.8 billion in 2016. This raised the Bank’s total loans to agriculture and fisheries by 24.4 percent to P138 billion from the previous year’s P111 billion.

LANDBANK loans to national government priority programs, which accounted for 63.4 percent of its priority sector loans, likewise grew by 31.9 percent to P380.7 billion from P288.6 billion in 2016. These include loans to MSMEs which increased by 43.1 percent from P62.8 billion to P89.8 billion; utilities which grew by 48.9 percent from P70.4 billion to P104.9 billion; and healthcare which also rose by 39.5 percent from P10.2 billion to P14.2 billion.

Meanwhile, loans to small farmers, fishers and their associations also expanded by 11 percent, from P40.8 billion in 2016 to P45.3 billion in 2017.

Other sectors which registered growth in loans include education which grew by 33.9 percent from P4.5 billion to P6.1 billion, tourism which was up by 35.2 percent from P6.5 billion to P8.8 billion, and transportation which rose by 29.5 percent from P30 billion to P38.9 billion. Loans for housing projects, environment-related projects, and communications also increased in 2017.

LANDBANK remains the single largest lender to small farmers and fishers and the leading provider of financial assistance to MSMEs among GOCCs and government financial institutions. It also finances projects in agri-infrastructure, agri-business, schools and hospitals, farm-to-market roads, housing and livelihood, and other development projects of local government units.