Singapore bank lending cools in July

Singapore

BANK lending in Singapore declined month-on-month for the first time since January this year, though it maintained a still strong year-on-year growth, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore showed on Friday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies, but reflects mainly Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$667.53 billion in July. This was down 0.8 per cent from the record S$673.25 billion reached in June, but up 6.9 per cent from S$632.60 billion a year ago.