The slip of the Philippine economy in the third quarter of 2025 is not unexpected given the impact of the weather and concerns about governance issues, but the president of the Ayala-led Bank of the Philippine Islands (BPI) is hopeful for a recovery in the coming quarters.
Growth of the domestic economy, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP), posted a slower growth of 4 percent from July to September this year from year-ago’s 5.2 percent and quarter-ago’s 5.49 percent, data released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) showed.
BPI president Jose Teodoro Limcaoco, in an interview with journalists Tuesday, said this development “is a little bit disappointing but not quite unexpected.”
“I think (the) economy should still grow about 5 percent. I think the Q3 number might be a one-off. It might spill a little bit to Q4 as the government tries to understand its spending. But I think as we roll into next year, we should hopefully get back to the 5 percent handle,” he said.
Ask for the impact of these developments on BPI’s business, Limcaoco said they remain focused on expanding their consumer base.
“So, as long as the consumer remains resilient and confident, that’s good for us,” he said. “The economy is what it is and you just have to roll with the punches. If it’s strong, it’s good for us. If the economy is weak, we try to be resilient.”
With the series of rate cuts from the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP), which totaled 100 basis points so far this year, the BPI chief said this stimulates the economy.
“It encourages borrowers to borrow rather than us to lend. So our loan growth in the third quarter was close to 14 percent, if I’m not mistaken. I think it continues to demonstrate that consumers continue to be relatively confident,” he said.
More product offerings
During the day, BPI launched its partnership with Robinsons Retail Holdings, Inc. (RRHI) that allows BPI account holders to withdraw from an initial 300 RRHI stores without using their automated teller machine (ATM) card but by generating barcodes through the BPI app, which they need to show to cashiers of the participating stores.
To date, this service is available in 300 RRHI food category stores like Robinsons Easymart, Robinsons Supermarket, No Brand, The Marketplace, and Shopwise as well as Robinsons Department Store and Toys’R’Us.
Transactions have a limit of PHP100 minimum and PHP10,000 maximum, and a cap of five barcode generations daily.
To date, one-third of the 18 million BPI app users, or around 6 million, are active users, and these, according to the bank executives, will initially benefit from the tie-up with RHHI. (PNA)
