Statistics | SMEs credit rebounds

Lending approved by local banks for new small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rebounded in the second half of 2015. According to statistics released by the Monetary Authority of Macau, the approved credit limit totaled MOP20.6 billion, up by 14.5 percent from the first half of the year, but down 17.9 percent from the same period last year.
As at end-December 2015, the outstanding value of total SME loans increased by 2.3 percent from end-June 2015, or 11.3 percent from a year earlier, to MOP66.7 billion.
When compared with end-June 2015, SME loans to “non-monetary financial institutions”, “restaurants, hotels and similar activities” and “construction and public works” increased at respective rates of 51.5 percent, 14.7 percent and 11.4 percent, whereas those to “wholesale and retail trade” and “manufacturing” dropped by 18 percent and 10 percent respectively.
The utilization rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, dropped 3.5 percentage points from six months ago to 61.2 percent.
At end-2015, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans increased by 87 percent from six months ago to MOP366.2 million. Compared to a year ago, the balance has grown by 168.5 percent.

new loans continue to rise

New approvals of residential mortgage loans (RMLs) and commercial real estate loans (CRELs) increased in December 2015, as did their respective outstanding balances.  For the month of December, the number of new RMLs approved by Macau banks increased by 104.3 percent over November to a value of MOP5 billion. As much as 99.4 percent of these loans were extended to residents. The value of resident loans increased by 98.3 percent, driven by other loans granted to enterprises in the territory. According to statistics released last week by the Monetary Authority of Macau, the non-resident component soared by 317.8 percent, which the Monetary Authority attributes to the low comparison base in the previous month. New RMLs increased by 34 percent year-on-year.