Singapore

BANK lending in Singapore in February 2017 points to a trend of higher access to funding for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), with loan growth gaining from the month before at the strongest pace since November 2013.

Bank lending in February grew 1.7 per cent from a month ago, compared to the flat growth in January, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore on Friday showed. Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$627 billion in February, up from S$617 billion in January.