China credit growth faster than expected

China’s broadest measure of new credit expanded faster than expected, bringing the total of new loans extended last year to roughly equal the size of Italy’s $1.8 trillion economy. Aggregate financing remained robust at 1.63 trillion RMB ($236 billion) in December, compared with a median estimate of 1.3 trillion RMB in a Bloomberg survey and 1.74 trillion RMB the prior month. New RMB loans stood at 1.04 trillion RMB, exceeding all 37 estimates in the survey. The broad M2 money supply increased 11.3% from a year earlier after climbing 11.4% in November. The rapid pace of lending is at odds with recent pledges by policy makers to curb excessive borrowing and reduce risk in the financial system. The economy ended 2016 on a strong note as producer prices rebounded, factory activity stabilized and corporate profit recovered.