Philippine liquidity up 36.5%

Demand for money in the Philippines increased by 36.5 percent on year to 6.7 trillion pesos (150.85 billion U.S. dollars) in November, the country's central bank said Friday. On a monthly basis, seasonally-adjusted domestic liquidity or M3 went up by 4 percent, faster than the 2.1 percent recorded in October. The central bank said the increase in money supply was due to the sustained expansion in domestic claims or credits to the domestic economy. Domestic claims grew by 12.3 percent in November, from 11.6 percent in October owing to the continued increase in claims on the private sector. The country's net foreign assets in November also went up by 10. 5 percent year-on-year. The expansion was attributed to robust foreign exchange inflows from remittances, receipts from the business process outsourcing sector and portfolio investments.