SME loans almost doubled in H1

2014/8/19

From:Macau Business Daily

New lending approved by Macau banks to small and medium sized enterprises totalled 23.2 billion patacas in the first six months of the year. Wholesale and retail led the credit frenzy

Loans granted by banks here to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) grew by 84 percent in the first half of the year to reach 23.2 billion patacas compared with that of the same period a year earlier.
The latest figures released yesterday by the Monetary Authority of Macau show that when compared with the second half of 2013 the credit limit granted by banks was 42.5 percent more between January and the end of June 2014.
The collateral ratio was down slightly by 2.4 percentage points to 75.3 percent at the end of June compared with that of the previous six months.
When analysed by sector, loans taken out by the ‘wholesale and retail trade’ increased by 64.5 percent at the end of June over that of the previous semester, while that of ‘transport, warehouse and communications’ increased 17.1percent. The ‘construction and public works’ sector took out 31.7 percent more loans in the first half of the year compared with the six months ended December 2013.
Overall, the outstanding value of loans granted by banks to SMEs here increased by 28.9 percent in the first half of this year over that of the previous six months to reach 52.1 billion patacas. This same figure represents a 28.9 percent increase from the same period a year ago.
The proportion of outstanding credit balance to credit limit granted, known as the utilisation rate, was 64.4 percent, a 0.6 percentage point drop compared to that of six months earlier.
According to the figures, the outstanding balance of delinquent loans granted by banks to SMEs decreased by 1.5 percent at the end of June to 142.4 million patacas compared to the six months between July and the end of December 2013. Delinquent loans are those that are overdue or late in payment. Compared to that of the first half of last year, the outstanding balance of delinquent loans dropped 13.8 percent.

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