According to statistics released today (19 February) by the Monetary Authority of Macao, newly approved small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit decreased in the second half of 2024.  Meanwhile, the outstanding balance of SME loans dropped while the share of SME loans to major industries remained stable.

New lending approved

In the second half of 2024, new SME credit limit approved by Macao banks totalled MOP3.3 billion, down 25.9% from the first half of 2024.  The collateralised ratio, which indicates the proportion of credit limit with tangible assets pledged, rose 29.3 percentage points from the last survey period to 76.1%.

Credit utilisation

As at end-2024, the outstanding balance of SME loans fell by 3.2% from end-June to MOP78.4 billion, attributable to the repayment of loans with large denomination. Compared to the previous survey period, outstanding SME loans to “education” and “transport, storage and communications” increased by 15.8% and 9.2% respectively whereas those to “wholesale and retail” and “construction” decreased by 7.7% and 1.1% respectively.

The utilisation rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, rose 2.7 percentage points from six months ago to 83.9%. 

Delinquent loans

At end-2024, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans was MOP4.9 billion.  The fraction of delinquent loans to total SME loans outstanding (the delinquency ratio) was 6.2%.