China's economic data in May

New yuan loans at 1.11 trillion yuan

The M2, a broad measure of the money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, grew at a record low of 9.6 percent from the previous year to about 160.14 trillion yuan by the end of May.

At the same time, the M1, a narrow measure of the money supply which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 17 percent year-on-year to 49.64 trillion yuan, slowing from an 18.5 percent increase in April and a 23.7 percent rise a year ago.

Fiscal revenue up 3.7 percent

China's fiscal revenue rose 3.7 percent year-on-year to 1.6 trillion yuan in May, according to the Ministry of Finance.

The ministry attributed the lower level of growth rate to slow development of relevant economic indicators, implementation of such policies like tax reduction, and large base of revenues.

FDI down 3.7 percent

Foreign direct investment on the Chinese mainland dropped 3.7 percent year-on-year in May to 54.67 billion yuan, extending a downward trend, the data from the Ministry of Commerce showed.

The decline followed a mild retreat in the previous month, when FDI was 4.3 percent lower than last April, in contrast with a 6.7 percent increase in March.

Despite a drop in the overall FDI, foreign investment in the mainland's service sector, especially high-tech and modern service industries, continued its steady growth.

"Foreign investors are gradually quitting labor-intensive industries and shifting to capital and technology-intensive industries in China," Professor Sun Lijian from Fudan University said.

Industry Profits up 16.7 percent

Major industrial firms' profits rose 16.7 percent year-on-year, 2.7 percentage points higher than in April, the National Bureau of Statistics said in a statement.

The companies reported a 22.7 percent profit increase in the five-month period from the same period last year, a slight drop from the 24.4 percent growth achieved over the first four months. However, it's still much faster than the 8.5 percent increase in 2016.

Improving sales, upbeat investment returns drove the profit growth, according to the NBS.

Tan Xinyu contributed to this story.