KUALA LUMPUR: Financing has continued to support the economic activity in the country in July 2019, said Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM). In its monthly highlights for July 2019, BNM said net financing expanded by 5.6 percent in July (June: 5.9 percent), while outstanding corporate bond growth was sustained at 10.3 percent (June: 10.6 percent).
Outstanding household loans grew by 4.7 percent (June: 4.9 percent) while outstanding business loan growth moderated to 2.5 percent (June: 3.4 percent). Net financing refers to outstanding loans of the banking system (excluding development financial institutions) and outstanding corporate bonds.
BNM said banks maintained sufficient liquidity to support intermediation and meet exigent needs as the banking system liquidity coverage ratio stood at 155.4 percent in July (June: 153 percent). “Funding profile of the banks remained stable.
The loan to fund ratio and the loan to fund and equity ratio stood at 82.3 percent and 71.8 percent, respectively,” it said. Meanwhile, headline inflation in July declined marginally to 1.4 percent (June: 1.5 percent), due mainly to the lapse in the impact from the higher electricity cost in July 2018 following the bi-annual electricity tariff adjustment.“Excluding the impact of the changes in the consumption tax policy, core inflation was unchanged at 1.5 percent in July (June: 1.5 percent),” it added.
Core inflation is computed by excluding price-volatile and price-administered items. It also excludes the estimated direct impact of tax policy changes. – Bernama
