New SME credit limit down by 28 pct

The new credit limit of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises approved by Macau banks in the first half of this year dropped by 28.3 percent over the second half of 2014, the Monetary Authority of Macau revealed in a statement.
The collateralized ratio was 78.5 percent, down 3.5 percentage points when compared with the last survey period. The collateralized ratio was up by 3.2 percentage points year-on-year.
By the end of June this year, the outstanding value of total SME loans increased by 8.8 percent from the end of 2014, or 25.2 percent over a year earlier to MOP65.3 billion.
When compared with the end of 2014, the SME loans to businesses categorized in the “manufacturing”, “restaurants, hotels and similar activities” industries and those viewed as “wholesale and retail trade”, increased at the respective rates of 12.9 percent, 11.1 percent and 8.7 percent, whereas those to “non-monetary financial institutions”, “electricity, gas and water” and “transport, warehouse and communications” dropped by 16.8 percent, 11.6 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.
The utilization rate dropped 2.0 percentage points from six months ago to 64.7 percent.
At the end of June, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans increased by 43.6 percent from six months ago to MOP195.8 million. CP