Chart of the Day: Singapore's consumer loan growth crashed to a seven-year low

Blame it on housing and car loans.

Singapore’s overall loan growth was slightly more cheerful in August, lifted by business loans.

According to a report by Maybank Kim Eng, industry domestic banking unit (DBU) loans improved slightly to 11.8% year on year in August, with stronger business loans (+15.9%) overwhelming consumer loan weakness.

Consumer loan growth slowed down further, to 5.8% in August, its slowest in seven years. The trend could be attributed to housing (+6.6%) and car loans (-19.7%).

Housing loans accounted for 74.7% of DBU consumer loans as at end-August. Car loans made up 4.0%.