Chart of the Day: Banks pin their hopes on construction firms as business loans slide

Consumer lending is also a bright spot.

Business loans are sliding in Singapore, but lending to construction firms remains robust despite slowing economic growth.

This chart from Natixis shows that Construction loan growth has remained positive throughout 2015 and 2016. In contrast, lending to the financial and manufacturing sectors have contracted drastically.

"Demand for credit is decelerating across the economy, ranging from consumer to general commerce. The only bright spot is lending to the construction sector, which remains robust," said Natixis.

Meanwhile, a report by DBS said that consumer lending provides a silver lining for banks’ otherwise gloomy outlook.

“Consumers remained fairly resilient. Perhaps one can even call it complacency, depending on how you look at it. Consumer loan growth has not only remained in positive territory but has, in fact, strengthened despite the deteriorating economic outlook. Consumer-related loans grew 2.4%, up from 1.9% previously, mainly driven by a healthy mortgage loan growth of 3.7%,” said DBS.