Singapore bank loans up 5.48% to $667.89b in May

Business and consumer loans grew 5.78% and 5.01% respectively.

Singapore bank lending jumped by 5.48% in a year from $633.22b to $667.89b in May 2018, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) revealed. Loan growth compared to April 2018 was flat at 0.11%.

According to preliminary data, business loans grew 5.78% from $380.99b last year to $403.03b. They marginally grew by 0.14% compared to April.

Lending was led by financial institutions (+19.78%) at $108.15m, private individuals with business purposes (+13.54%) at $10.32m, and business services (+10.91%) at $9.64m. Loans for the transport, storage, & communication sector dipped 0.8% to $22.29m and other sectors fell 2.53% to $29.87m.

Meanwhile, consumer loans jumped 5.01% to $264.86m, as housing and bridging loans jumped 4.84% to $203.11m.

Loans for cars, credit cards, and other consumer items jumped 7.83%, 4.04%, and 6.34% to $8.57m, $10.82m, and $40m respectively. Share financing fell 6.87% to $2.33m.