MANILA, June 29 (Reuters) - The Philippine central bank has
scope to offer more debt restructuring measures amid risks of
higher defaults and non-performing loans (NPLs) at the time of
the novel coronavirus pandemic, its governor said on Monday.
Since the start of the pandemic, the central bank has
implemented a slew of monetary and regulatory measures to ensure
liquidity and sustain credit flow, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Governor Benjamin Diokno told a virtual business forum.
The Gross NPL ratio of big banks rose to 1.77% in March from
1.57% in end-2019, central bank data showed.
The central bank has yet to exhaust conventional monetary
instruments in its toolkit to support the liquidity requirements
of the economy when needed, Diokno said.