Top Biz News

Bankers' confidence index continues to rise

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-12-17 11:35

Chinese bankers are more confident in the nation's macro-economy and expect a continuous economic uptick in the future, a survey by the central bank said on Wednesday.

Bankers' confidence index (BCI) for the macro-economy rose for three straight quarters to 70.1 percent in the fourth quarter, 14.7 percentage points up from the third quarter, the People's Bank of China said on its website.

Bankers' macro-economic expectation index for the first quarter next year increased to 49.9 percent, 4 percentage points higher than a quarter ago.

The survey also found 26.6 percent of the bankers regarded the current monetary policy as "moderately loose", or 12.7 percentage points lower than in the third quarter, while 66.4 percent regarded the policy as "moderate."

Around 66 percent bankers predicted the monetary policy would remain unchanged in the first quarter next year. The government has vowed to stick to the current proactive fiscal policy and moderately easy monetary policy.

Bankers' outlook for the banking industry had also been strengthening for the past three quarters, and they expected the improvement would continue in the next quarter, the central bank said.

The quarterly survey, conducted by the central bank and the National Bureau of Statistics, was carried among the country's 2,900 banking institutions.