Chart of the Day: January bank loans eased to the slowest in 5 years

Manufacturing loans fell for the 2nd straight month.

Significant declines were seen across different bank loans, resulting in a record-breaking easing.

According to OCBC, Singapore’s Jan bank loans growth eased to +4.3% yoy , the slowest since Dec09, as business loans moderated to 3.9% yoy due to drags from manufacturing loans (fell on-year for the second straight month), general commerce (turned negative for the first time since Jan 2010), and financial institution loans flat-lined.

This also marked the second on-month decline for total loans and business loans, as well as a
mom drop for general commerce, building/construction and financial institution segments.

It remains to be seen if bank loans growth would actually turn negative yoy , as briefly seen
during Oct09 (-0.2% yoy), given the higher double-digit base in Jan-Sep14.

However, consumer loans have stabilized around the 5% yoy handle (+0.3% mom), in tandem
with housing/bridging loans (+6.5% yoy and +0.5% mom).