Chinese banks have been given instruction by regulators to rein in the administering of any new credit this week, Caixin reported Monday evening, in the run up to the Spring Festival holiday.
Data released by the People’s Bank of China showed that domestic banks had lent a record amount of new loans in January, giving out a total of 2.9 trillion yuan ($456 billion). This surpassed the previous estimate of 2 trillion yuan for the month.
Credit has become a wider issue for the Chinese economy in the last year, with both private and state organizations taking on a record level of debt. The country’s financial regulators are expected to continue to crack-down on this in 2018 to contain any potential risk.