KUALA LUMPUR (May 31): Malaysia’s gross loan growth accelerated in April thanks to higher growth in both outstanding loans and corporate bonds, official data on Friday showed.

Credit to the private non-financial sector rose 5.4% year-on-year in April compared to March’s 5.2% annual growth, Bank Negara Malaysia said in a statement. Business loan growth picked up to 5.6% versus 5% in March, thanks to higher growth in both working capital and investment-related loans.

Growth in household outstanding loans, meanwhile, was steady at 6.2% in April amid stable loan growth across most purposes, including for the purchase of housing and cars, BNM said.

The data covers loans to households and non-financial corporations from the banking system and development financial institutions, as well as corporate bonds issued by non-financial corporations, including short-term papers.

“Asset quality in the banking system remained intact” as the industry’s gross impaired loans — debts deemed unrecoverable as a percentage of total loans — were stable at 1.6%. On a net basis, impaired loans were also stable at 1% in April.

Loss coverage ratio, including regulatory reserves, remained at a “prudent” level of 120.4% of impaired loans, with provisions accounting for 1.5% of total loans.

Banks’ liquidity and funding positions were “strong to support intermediation” with aggregate liquidity coverage ratio of 152.2% and loan-to-fund ratio broadly stable at 82.3%, BNM said.