MANILA – A ranking official of Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) remains confident of another double-digit income growth this year despite volatilities, citing that consumer demand remains strong.
In a briefing Thursday, RCBC treasury head Horacio Cebrero said among the risks that would affect their performance this year is the impact on domestic growth of the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19).
He, however, said authorities have assured the public that the government has the tools to counter the potential impact of the disease on the domestic economy.
Cebrero said this is a guarantee the government will “do its best” since no one knows up to now how much the impact of the epidemic on growth.
“Our government has said fiscal spending will be there. And I guess additional fiscal spending will be there to ensure that the growth trajectory they are looking for the whole year will be close to where they targeted it to be,” he said.
The government’s growth target for this year ranges between 6.5 to 7.5 percent.
Cebrero said they are projecting domestic expansion to be around the 6-percent level.
“Hopefully with the (domestic) growth that we’re estimating… we will register a double-digit (income growth) answering to the call of the government to support them in the infrastructure projects. There will still be a lot of consumer demand because the economy is growing,” he added.
Last year, the bank registered a 25-percent growth in net income to PHP5.4 billion because of the robust increase of core business.
Consumer loans grew by 18 percent last year, while it was 29 percent for small and medium enterprises (SME) and 44 percent for credit card receivables. (PNA)
