China’s new RMB loans expected to fall in May: Reuters poll

China’s new bank loans are expected to decline in May from the previous month, but are still expected to be higher than a year earlier amid continued policy support to bolster the economy against the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, reported Reuters.

Chinese banks are estimated to have issued RMB 1.5 trillion ($211.84 billion) in net new RMB loans in May, compared with RMB 1.70 trillion in April, according to the median estimate in a Reuters survey of 33 economists. That would be higher than RMB 1.18 trillion in new loans a year earlier.

Pan Gongsheng, Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China, said last week that the economic hit from the coronavirus pandemic was bigger than first expected and that more monetary and credit policy support was needed.