Slowdown in mainland loans as Xi Jinping stresses 'new normal' growth
Response from Beijing and Xi's 'new normal' growth indicate that the authorities are comfortable with the way the economy is performing
The amount of new loans extended on the mainland last month was lower than expected, indicating the authorities refrained from adding liquidity to spur growth despite a rapidly cooling property market that has flagged further weakness in the economy.
The lingering tightness in liquidity also reflects the regulators' efforts to rein in shadow-banking businesses to prevent systemic risks after several property trusts reportedly defaulted on their products. An approaching peak of property trust repayments is likely to test market stability, analysts say, with more than 120 billion yuan (HK$151 billion) worth of products expected to mature this month.
Remarks by President Xi Jinping during a visit to Henan province on Saturday that people should adapt to the "new normal" of economic development have been widely interpreted by observers as suggesting that Beijing remains comfortable with the pace of slowdown in economic growth.
Echoing Xi's message, People's Bank of China governor Zhou Xiaochuan told a closed-door forum at the weekend the authorities would not easily resort to massive stimulus in response to short-term fluctuations in economic data, but policy fine-tuning would continue.
Aggregate social financing fell by 12 per cent year on year to 1.55 trillion yuan last month, PBOC said on its website yesterday. Trust loans rose 41.7 billion yuan year on year, only a fifth of the increase in April last year.
New yuan loans extended by banks reached 774.7 billion yuan last month, below the 880 billion yuan expected by analysts and also lower than the 1.05 trillion yuan issued in March.