Singapore bank lending up for fourth straight month

Singapore

SINGAPORE's bank lending extended its growth streak for the fourth straight month in February, lifted by continued growth in housing and construction loans.

Loans through the domestic banking unit - which captures lending in all currencies, but reflects mainly Singapore-dollar lending - were up 0.5 per cent to S$686.73 billion in February, compared with S$683.59 billion in January, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Wednesday.

In February, loans to businesses picked up for the third straight month, rising 0.5 per cent month on month to S$424.76 billion.

Loans to the single-largest business lending segment, building and construction, climbed 1.2 per cent to S$152.15 billion in February.

Over the same period, loans to manufacturing were up 3.1 per cent to S$27.09 billion, loans to general commerce rose 1.5 per cent to S$64.25 billion, while loans to others increased by 0.9 per cent to S$30.76 billion.

Loans to financial institutions and the transport sector bucked the trend, down 1.6 per cent and 0.8 per cent to S$102.11 billion and S$25.43 billion respectively.

Meanwhile, loans to consumers edged up 0.4 per cent month on month to S$261.97 billion in February, marking the seventh straight month of growth.

Housing loans, which make up three-quarters of consumer lending, inched up 0.3 per cent to S$202.66 billion in February.

Unsecured personal loans, excluding credit cards, grew 1.7 per cent month on month to S$39.05 billion, while car loans were up 0.1 per cent to S$8.41 billion. Loans for share financing also rose 4.5 per cent to S$1.84 billion in February, reversing the 1 per cent decline a month ago.

Credit card loans, however, extended their slide, down 1.5 per cent to S$10 billion.

Year on year, consumer loans were flattish in February while business loans fell 1.4 per cent. Overall, total bank lending slipped 0.9 per cent.