Chart of the Day: Singapore banks' building and construction loans dipped 5%

Even manufacturing-related loans slowed down.

According to Barclays, system loans in July rose 0.9% m/m (10.6% ytd) and 0.6% m/m on a constant currency basis after taking into account mild USD appreciation against the SGD in July. 

In particular, ACU loans contracted by 0.2% in US$ terms (+0.5% in SG$ terms), led by a slowdown in loans to the transportation & communication (-5% m/m), building & construction (-5% m/m), and manufacturing (-0.5%) industries.

Here's more from Barclays:

DBU loan growth was steady at 1.2% m/m, and was mainly driven by general commerce/trade finance +2.2% h/h (26% ytd).

Pace of growth in general commerce and manufacturing loans have moderated since earlier this year and in our view now better reflect genuine trade activity as Chinese regulators clamped down on RMB/USD interest arbitrage trade lending in June.