Kuwait- Credit bounces, yr-end growth seen near 5.5% 

(MENAFN - Arab Times) Bank credit saw a noticeable increase in November following a large drop in October.

This further bolsters credit growth in 2012, which has generally been stronger than the previous year. Growth has been largely driven by personal facilities while corporate credit has remained relatively subdued. Credit to the nonbank financial sector continued to weigh down on total credit.

Outstanding credit to residents rose by KD 188 million in November following a large drop last month. Total credit is up a good KD 1.3 billion year-to-date (ytd) and year-on-year growth is now 5.2%.

Personal facilities (excl. securities) increased by KD 117 million in November, mostly in installment loans, once again driving overall credit growth. This sector has added KD 963 million to outstanding loans ytd and is up 16.5% year-on-year (y/y).

Mild drops in the trade and industry sectors coupled with healthy increases in construction and real estate helped reverse last month's uncharacteristic decline in credit. Lending to non-bank financials, however, remains a drag on overall credit growth declining by KD 52 million on the month and by 16.7% ytd.

An increase in sight and time deposits caused both the narrow (M1) and broad (M2) measures of money supply to expand by KD 233 million and KD 150 million, respectively. M1 and M2 are up 17.1% and 5% y/y respectively.

Private deposits were up a KD 104 million in November. A strong increase in KD deposits, propelled by a sizeable gain in sight deposits, was behind the increase in private resident deposits. Meanwhile, foreign currency deposits declined by KD 80 million.

Deposit rates on dinar time deposits fell between 2 and 4 basis points across maturities in November. The 1-month, 3-month-, 6-month and 12-month deposit rates averaged 0.61%, 0.84%, 1.07% and 1.31%.