Singapore bank lending up 0.5% in Nov from Oct on business loans

BANK lending rose 0.5 per cent in November on a month-on-month basis, easing slightly from a 0.7 per cent increase in October, preliminary Monetary Authority of Singapore data showed on Tuesday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which capture lending in all currencies, but reflect mainly Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$692.73 billion in November, compared with S$689.42 billion a month ago.

From a year ago, total lending rose 3.1 per cent.

The slight uptick in bank lending was mostly attributed to an increase in business loans, which grew 0.7 per cent from October to S$429.78 billion on the back of more lending to business services firms.

Aside from business services, loans to firms in building and construction, general commerce, transport, storage and communication, and financial institutions also went up.

Business lending was up 6 per cent from S$405.6 billion in November last year.

Consumer loans stayed about the same, with S$262.95 billion in November this year compared with S$262.65 billion a month ago. Year on year, consumer loans were down 1.3 per cent.

Housing and bridging loans continued to decline by 0.1 per cent month on month to S$200.94 billion in November. It is also down 1.5 per cent from a year ago.