Less whoop, more whimper from July's bank lending

Singapore

BANK lending in July reflected a tepid showing in business loans, dashing some hopes of a sustained momentum into the second half, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Thursday.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which capture lending in all currencies but mainly reflect Singapore-dollar lending - stood at S$633 billion in July, up 5.9 per cent. This was weaker than the year-on-year gain of 7.6 per cent posted in June.