Singapore bank lending down in February

BANK lending in Singapore saw more drag in February from a month ago, reflecting weakness in business loans, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Thursday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which essentially captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$596 billion last month, down 0.7 per cent from January, the MAS figures showed.

In January, bank lending was flat at S$600 billion.

Business loans in February fell one per cent to S$354 billion from January. A month ago, it was flat at S$357 billion.

Consumer lending also fell 0.3 per cent to S$242 billion in February from a month ago. Likewise, a month ago, it was flat at S$243 billion.

From a year ago, bank lending in February fell 1.2 per cent, at the same pace as the contraction posted in January.