
Chart of the Day: Consumer loans remain lacklustre despite growth in car loans
Auto loans make up only around 3% of total consumer lending.
Consumer loan growth slid to 0.2% YoY in December, reversing its 0.7% growth in the preceding month. According to Maybank Kim Eng, this is its worst reading since September 2009.
The only bright spot is the car loan segment, which grew 0.2% as MAS eased rules on motor vehicle financing in May 2016. This is its first YoY growth since November 2012 when MAS reintroduced restrictions on vehicle financing in 2013.
However, Maybank noted that car loans are unable to support the overall slack in consumer lending as the segment currently forms only around 3% of the total loans.