According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, newly approved small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit rebounded in the second half of 2018 when compared to the first half of 2018.  Meanwhile, the outstanding balance of SME loans registered growth and the share of SME loans to major industries remained stable.

New lending approved

In the second half of 2018, new SME credit limit approved by Macao banks totalled MOP13.1 billion, up 23.7% from the first half of 2018 or 0.9% from the same period of 2017.  The collateralised ratio, which indicates the proportion of credit limit with tangible assets pledged, was 75.8%, down 1.6 percentage points when compared with the last survey period, but up 2.6 percentage points when compared with the same period of 2017.

Credit utilisation

As at end-December 2018, the outstanding balance of total SME loans increased 7.4% from end-June 2018 or 13.5% from a year earlier to MOP87.9 billion.  Compared to the last survey period, SME loans to “construction and public works” and “wholesale and retail trade” increased at respective rates of 4.5% and 4.1% whereas those to “information technology” and “manufacturing industries” dropped 5.6% and 1.8% respectively.

The utilisation rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, increased 2.9 percentage points from six months ago or 8.7 percentage points from a year earlier to 80.0%. 

Delinquent loans

At end-December 2018, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans dropped 21.8% from six months ago or 12.4% from the preceding year to MOP457.7 million.  The delinquency ratio, a ratio of delinquent loans outstanding balance to total SME loans outstanding, dropped 0.19 percentage points from end-June 2018 or 0.15 percentage points from end-2017 to 0.52%.