China's new yuan loans hit new high in January

BEIJING - China's new yuan-denominated loans hit 2.9 trillion yuan ($458.2 billion) for January, 867 billion yuan more than the same period a year earlier and a record high, according to central bank data released Monday.

The amount was above the market forecast of around 2.1 trillion yuan and nearly five times the level in December, when new yuan lending stood at 584.4 billion yuan.

Credit demand was subdued in December due to the introduction of limited lending quotas for banks in January, resulting in the rebound, according to an earlier analysis note from Huatai Securities.

The M2, a broad measure of the money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, reached 172.1 trillion yuan at the end of January, up 8.6 percent year-on-year, compared with an 8.1-percent increase a month earlier, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) said in a statement.

The narrower measure of money supply M1, which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 15 percent year-on-year to 54.3 trillion yuan at the end of January. The growth rate was 3.2 percentage points higher than a month earlier.

M0, the amount of cash in circulation, dropped 13.8 percent to 7.5 trillion yuan.

January also saw a net cash injection of 399.1 billion yuan, according to the PBOC.

Total social financing, a broad measure of funds that non-financial firms and households receive from the financial system, reached 3.1 trillion yuan last month, 636.7 billion yuan less than a year earlier.

New loans to non-financial enterprises, government agencies and non-profit institutions reached 1.8 trillion yuan. New medium- and long-term loans to households, mainly used for home purchases, stood at 591 billion yuan.

Last month, new yuan deposits stood at 3.9 trillion yuan, 2.4 trillion yuan more than the same period last year.

By the end of January, total outstanding loans in both yuan and non-yuan currencies rose 12.6 percent year-on-year to 128.6 trillion yuan, while outstanding deposits climbed 10.3 percent to 173.3 trillion yuan.

Last month, yuan-denominated cross-border trade settlement reached 363.2 billion yuan. Direct investment settled in yuan totaled 215.7 billion yuan, according to the PBOC.