Metro Manila corners 67% of wealth

Metro Manila’s share of the country’s total financial wealth widened further this year, as the political and financial hub continued to experience faster growth than the rest of the economy.

Metro Manila cornered more than two-thirds of the financial resources of the banking sector as of June 2011, leaving less than a third of the total to the rest of the country, according to state-owned Philippine Deposit Insurance Corp.

PDIC, in its Regional Deposit Profile, said the National Capital Region accounted for the lion’s share of 67.7 percent of the total deposits maintained in the Philippine banking system.

Of the outstanding bank deposits of P5.2 trillion as of end-June 2011, Metro Manila held 3.5 trillion while the rest of the country accounted for P1.7 trillion, or 32.3 percent.

Instead of becoming more equitable, the ratio is moving in favor of Metro Manila’s larger share of the pie. Deposits in the NCR grew faster at 9.6 percent in the first half of 2011, compared with the 6.2 percent increase in combined deposits in the rest of the country. The national average deposit growth rate stood at 8.4 percent in the first half.

Metro Manila also accounted for 42.7 percent of the 37.6 million total deposit accounts as of June 2011, while the rest of the country had 57.3 percent of the total. –Roderick T. dela Cruz, Manila Standard Today