Pale finish for S'pore bank lending in 2015

Singapore

WEAKER business growth cast a pall over bank lending last year, which closed 2015 lower than 12 months previously.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$600 billion in December, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Friday. This fell 1.3 per cent from a year ago and was also down 0.7 per cent from the previous month.