According to statistics released today by the Monetary Authority of Macao, newly approved small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) credit dropped in the first half of 2022. In the meantime, the outstanding balance of SME loans retreated while the share of SME loans to major industries remained stable.
New lending approved
In the first half of 2022, new SME credit limit approved by Macao banks totalled MOP7.6 billion, a drop of 37.5% from the second half of 2021 or 61.0% from the same period of 2021. The collateralised ratio, which indicates the proportion of credit limit with tangible assets pledged, was 68.7%, down 2.8 percentage points from the last survey period or 10.2 percentage points when compared with the same period of 2021.
Credit utilisation
As at end-June 2022, the outstanding balance of SME loans decreased 9.5% from end-2021 or 10.6% from a year earlier to MOP84.5 billion. Compared to the previous survey period, outstanding SME loans to “transport, warehouse and communications” rose 5.0% whereas those to “wholesale and retail trade” and “construction and public works” dropped 23.1% and 6.9% respectively.
The utilisation rate, defined as the proportion of outstanding credit balance to the credit limit granted, fell 3.7 percentage points from six months ago or 4.5 percentage points from a year earlier to 77.9%.
Delinquent loans
At end-June 2022, the outstanding balance of delinquent SME loans increased 32.0% from six months ago or 25.2% from the preceding year to MOP690.7 million. The delinquency ratio, the fraction of delinquent loans to total SME loans outstanding, rose 0.26 percentage points from six months ago or 0.23 percentage points from end-June 2021 to 0.82%.