Bank lending sees 1.1% uptrend in December

On the back of strong loans to businesses.

Bank lending in Singapore continued its upward trend in December, with loans growing 2.9% YoY to $617.35b in December, up from $599.8b in the past year. On a month on month basis, loans saw a faster pace of growth in December at1 1.1 %, compared to a slow 0.4% growth in the previous month, latest figures from MAS said.

The strong performance was mainly on the back of the growth in business loans to $367b, a 1.67% increase from the previous month's $360.98b. Of the sectors, only loans to individuals fell, albeit only slightly, to $8.93b from $8.97b. Meanwhile, loans to manufacturers grew to $26.3b as lending to agriculture spiked to $5.8b. Loans in the construction sector ballooned to $121b, general commerce to $63.96b, transport to $21b, business services to $7.9b, and financial institutions to $80.3m.

On the other hand, consumer loans also see an increase to $250.3b, on the back of an increase in housing loans to $192.1b.