Chinese banks’ US$112b lending off the mark and below January’s
Print Edition
CHINESE banks extended 726.6 billion yuan (US$112 billion) in net new yuan loans in February, missing expectations and pulling back from a lending splurge in January, even as the central bank promised to keep policy loose to support the slowing economy.
The People’s Bank of China is trying to keep liquidity flush to support the economy and cushion the pain from structural reforms, but officials have cautioned against excessive loosening that could increase downward pressure on the yuan.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected new loans to fall to 1.2 trillion yuan last month from January’s record of 2.51 trillion yuan.
Some analysts believe the PBOC has used its “window guidance” to try and slow the pace of banks’ lending.
“The authorities put a brake on the credit growth, due to concerns over the overheating property market and rising CPI inflation,” said Zhou Hao, senior emerging markets economist at Commerzbank in Singapore.
“We believe that today’s number only reflects the administrative control measures, rather than any change in the monetary policy stance.”
Zhou expects credit growth to pick up in March, in line with rising mortgage loans and a further rise in banks’ balance sheet as the government steps up fiscal spending.
The central bank said the broad M2 money supply measure grew at 13.3 percent from a year earlier, missing forecasts of 13.8 percent.
Outstanding yuan loans grew at 14.7 percent by month-end on an annual basis.
Analysts polled by Reuters had expected outstanding loans to rise by 15.2 percent, and predicted the money supply would rise by 13.8 percent.
The PBOC aims for annual M2 growth of around 13 percent this year, pointing to further policy easing during a painful economic restructuring that could see millions of workers losing jobs.
Total social financing, another important indicator of China’s credit expansion, fell sharply to 780.2 billion yuan in February from 3.42 trillion yuan in January.
Chinese banks’ upstanding foreign-currency deposits rose to US$655.2 billion at the end of February from US$646.9 billion at the end of January, PBOC data showed.
The PBOC cut bank reserve ratio requirements on February 29 in its latest effort to boost growth, releasing an estimated US$100 billion of capital for lending.
Analysts expect the PBOC, which has cut interest rates six times since November 2014 and the RRR — the proportion of deposits that banks must park at the central bank as reserves — several times, to ease policy further in the coming months.
Commerzbank’s Zhou expected the PBOC to cut the RRR by another 100-150 basis points this year, and cut interest rates by 25 basis points.
The government has set a growth target of 6.5-7 percent for this year.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
