Bank lending dips in July, weighed down by fall in business loans

Singapore

A DROP in business loans was the main drag to total bank lending in July, even as housing loans continued to slide for the seventh straight month.

Bank lending in Singapore dipped 0.9 per cent to S$680.7 billion in July from a month ago, on broad weakness across both business and consumer loans. This is its first decline after five months of growth, going by preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).