According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, newly approved small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit retreated in the second half of 2019.  On the other hand, the outstanding balance of SME loans rose year-on-year while the share of SME loans to major industries remained stable.

New lending approved

In the second half of 2019, new SME credit limit approved by Macao banks totalled MOP10.0 billion, down 41.1% from the first half of 2019 or 26.8% from the same period of 2018.  The collateralised ratio, which indicates the proportion of credit limit with tangible assets pledged, was 66.8%, down 2.5 percentage points when compared with the last survey period or 9.5 percentage points when compared with the same period of 2018.

Credit utilisation

As at end-2019, the outstanding balance of total SME loans decreased 0.5% from end-June 2019 but rose 4.2% from a year earlier to MOP94.5 billion.  Compared to the last survey period, SME loans to “restaurants, hotels and similar” and “transport, warehouse and communications” increased at respective rates of 20.4% and 18.3% whereas those to “manufacturing industries” and “construction and public works” dropped 8.8% and 2.1% respectively.

The utilisation rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, fell 1.5 percentage points from six months ago or 1.6 percentage points from a year earlier to 78.6%. 

Delinquent loans

At end-2019, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans dropped 11.1% from six months ago or 7.9% from the preceding year to MOP424.8 million.  The delinquency ratio, a ratio of delinquent loans outstanding balance to total SME loans outstanding, dropped 0.05 percentage points from end-June 2019 or 0.06 percentage points from end-2018 to 0.45%.