
KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 27): Malaysia’s gross loan growth was a tad faster in January as corporate bond issuance picked up while household and business borrowings were mostly stable, data out on Friday showed.
Credit to the private non-financial sector grew by 5.5% in January, mainly reflecting higher growth in outstanding corporate bonds, compared to December 2025’s pace of 5.4%, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) said in a statement. Outstanding loan growth was stable at 5%.
Business loans expanded by 4%, supported by higher growth for investment-related loans, particularly among larger firms. Loans to small and medium enterprises, meanwhile, were broadly steady. Household loan growth was unchanged at 5.6%.
“Asset quality in the banking system remained sound,” BNM said.
Gross impaired loans in the system — bad debts as a share of total loans — remained stable at 1.4% at the end of January while loan loss coverage, including regulatory reserves, was more than sufficient to cover up to 126% of the loans turning sour.