China loans rise in June

Chinese banks issued 16% more loans in June than in May, indicating further efforts from policy makers to rejuvenate the slowing economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The value of yuan loans issued in June totaled US$144.3 billion. “The new yuan loans figure in June is better than market expectations. It shows that policy easing started to show effects as of June and the effects will be more obvious in July,” said Zhiwei Zhang, chief China economist for Nomura. Meanwhile, China’s M2 measure of money supply also surged to 13.6% at the end of June compared from a year earlier, edging out analyst expectations of 13.5% growth. Total social financing, a measure launched last year by the People’s Bank of China that goes beyond more traditional guages of credit, was up 56% from May.