Macao\'s lending to private sector grows 2% in Sept

Macao\'s domestic loans to local private sector in September increased by 2.0 percent month-on-month to an equivalent of 191.4 billion patacas (23.98 billion U.S. dollars), according to figures released on Monday by Monetary Authority of Macao. The figures also indicated that 28.4 percent of the domestic loans was pataca-denominated, while 63.2 percent was denominated in Hong Kong dollar. Meanwhile, external loans decreased by 1.1 percent month-on-month to 213.3 billion patacas (26.73 billion U.S. dollars), of which loans denominated in pataca and HKD accounted for 0.7 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively. As domestic loans to the private sector grew faster than resident deposits, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at the end of September increased by 0.5 percentage points month-on-month to 49.6 percent.