Bank lending expands for second straight month in August: MAS

BANK lending in Singapore rose 1.1 per cent in August from a month ago - the same pace as in July - with both business and consumer loans gaining from July, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Friday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending - in August stood at S$604 billion, up from S$597 billion in July.

Business loans rose 1.6 per cent in August from July, at S$357 billion. The pace was a shade slower than the 1.9 per cent expansion in July.

Consumer loans' growth also rose 0.4 per cent in August from July to S$247 billion. In July, this was flat.

From a year ago, bank lending in August was down 1.6 per cent, though this is a smaller contraction compared to that in July, at 2.2 per cent.