China’s new bank lending falls sharply in February from record high
- Chinese banks made 885.8 billion yuan (US$131.8 billion) in net new yuan loans in February, down from the record 3.23 trillion yuan in new lending in January
- People’s Bank of China says combined data for first two months of the year stable given Lunar New Year holiday effect
New bank lending in China fell sharply in February because of seasonal factors, and as the government took action to dampen speculative activities after lending hit a record high the previous month.
Other key credit gauges in the economy also sank last month. Total social financing dropped to 703 billion yuan from 4.64 trillion yuan in January. Total social financing includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.
Growth of outstanding total social financing, a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, slowed to 10.1 per cent in February from January’s 10.4 per cent but remained above the record low rate of 9.8 per cent in December.
Broad M2 money supply grew 8 per cent in February from a year earlier, the central bank data showed, down from 8.4 per cent in January and missing expectations for an unchanged 8.4 per cent rise.