China’s foreign-exchange reserves exceeded US$3 trillion and bank credit grew faster than expected in March, signs of persistent inflation that could herald further tightening, the Wall Street Journal reported. New renminbi loans rebounded in March to US$104.5 billion, up from US$82.0 billion in February and exceeding a median forecast of US$89.6 billion of 13 economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires. The country’s foreign-exchange reserves, meanwhile, surged by US$197.4 billion in the first quarter to US$3.0447 trillion, as foreign investors pumped more cash in China’s economy. The People’s Bank of China also reported 16.6% growth in M2 – the broadest measure of money supply – from a year earlier. Annual growth in M2 quickened from 15.7% in February and exceeded economists’ forecasts of a 15.4% increase. The lending and money numbers “are higher than our expectation, so the central government will probably continue with monetary tightening in the next few months,” Citic Securities economist Sun Wencun said.