Macao's domestic credit to local private sector dropped slightly by 0.2 percent month-to-month to 91.8 billion patacas (11.6 billion U.S. dollars) in December 2008, according to the figures released Thursday by the Monetary Authority of Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR).

Among such credit, 18.6 billion patacas was pataca-denominated and 66.2 billion patacas was denominated in HK dollar, representing 20.2 percent and 72.1 percent of the total respectively in the period, the Authority said.

Analyzed by the sectoral distribution, credit extended to sectors such as "wholesale and retail" and "individuals for house purchases" dropped quarter-to-quarter at respective rates of 15.7 percent and 3.5 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, whereas those of "transport, warehouse and communications", " restaurants, hotels and related activities" and "construction and public works" increased by 33.2 percent, 3.1 percent and 2.9 percent respectively, according to the figures.

External credit also declined by 0.8 percent to 59.3 billion patacas in December 2008, of which credit denominated in pataca and HK dollar accounted for 1.8 percent and 54 percent respectively of the total.

The Authority also said that, attributed to the gain in resident deposits and contraction in domestic credit to the private sector, the loan-to-deposit ratio for the resident sector at end-December 2008 dropped by 1.5 percentage points month-to-month to 46.4 percent while the ratio for both residents and non-residents stood at 54.7 percent, down 2.8 percentage points.

Source:Xinhua