Singapore bank lending falls again in October

Singapore

BANK lending in Singapore fell in October from the previous month, dragged by weaker business loans across most segments, preliminary data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Monday. This is the second - and a deeper - contraction following off September.

Loans through the domestic banking unit, which essentially captures lending in all currencies but mainly reflects Singapore-dollar lending, stood at S$602 billion last month, down 1.1 per cent from September, the MAS figures showed. In September, bank lending stood at S$608 billion, down 0.8 per cent from August.