Commercial bank lending in Singapore in April grew

Commercial bank lending in Singapore in April grew to S$251.06 billion from S$201.80 billion a year earlier on the back of strong construction activity and a rise in home mortgages, data from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) showed on Friday.

Lending to businesses grew to S$143.58 billion from S$106.56 billion, led by a 53.6 percent jump in construction loans to S$45.02 billion.

Consumer lending expanded to S$107.48 billion from S$95.24 billion, of which housing and bridging loans amounted to S$74.56 billion, up 14.8 percent from last year.

Despite the healthy annual rise in bank loans in April, analysts expect lending growth to taper off in the second half of the year.

Loan growth in the first half will likely be more than 20 percent due to the loans extended for the construction of the two multi-billion dollar integrated casino resorts in Singapore and given a low base effect last year, said Kenneth Ng, analyst at CIMB-GK.

´We shouldn´t be very bullish about the 24.4 percent (annual rise in April) because the first half will probably see the peak in loan growth,´ he said.

On closer inspection, the April data also showed that on a monthly basis, the growth pace has slowed to 0.6 percent from March, the slowest month-on-month loan growth since April last year.

´A bit of a worrying sign, although one month doesn´t make a trend, is we have some of the manufacturing loans coming off quite significantly, some of the agriculture (loans) are coming off, and property loans have not been so much more either,´ Ng said.

´We all know that the broader economy is slowing down, particularly manufacturing (which) is in danger with the high oil price and the weak dollar ... so the second-half growth will come in the teens.´

Analysts expect loan growth for the city-state´s banks -- DBS Group, United Overseas Bank (other-otc: UOVEY.PK - news - people ) and Oversea Chinese Banking Corp. -- to slow to about 12 to 13 percent this year from the 20 percent jump recorded last year.

Domestic economic growth is expected to slow to 4.0 percent to 6.0 percent this year from 7.7 percent in 2007 given Singapore´s vulnerability to economic weakness in the United States, a major export market for the city state.

Why Home Buyers must Understand the significance of Interest Rate Drops | Initial Time Home Buyers Loans | College Loan Consolidation - You Solution To Student Loan Payback | Stafford Loans As Your Law School Loan Alternative | How To Get A Short Term Loan | Instant Cash Loans, how to get it quickly | Millions of dollars in bad loans | The Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority board | Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) has also eliminated some cash-out | Blue Chip properties mortgage Loans | Inventing mortgage-backed securities | SBI bad loans | University Students borrowed loand from Students Loan Bureau | FHA Loans from the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp | Bank of North Dakota borrowers have federal student loans | Wall Street investment companies reduces FED loans | Personal Loans easiest way for life | Problems of personal loans | Farmers are not getting fresh loans from banks | Housing finance experts asks lifting of loan limits | India banks' loans rose 24.3 | Shortage in federal student loans | Repayment of loans to opera house | Low-interest loans for home owners at Alaska | Lawrence Township getting loans again | Commercial property loans has risen by 400 percentage | Enable repayment of student loans | Small loans microfinance to expand and improve businesses | International Real Estate Loans | The National Australia Bank NAB has become the third major financial institution | Council Of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has issued a downbeat report on the outlook for the UK housing mar | UK high stret lender Abbeys fixed-rate range will riseup | Commercial bank lending in Singapore in April grew | Small Business Administration Disaster Assistance Loan Deadline | Banks bad loan solution | Car loans with less form filling procedures