Thanks largely to a hike in required bank reserves, the central bank, the People
s Bank of China (PBOC), reported that money supply growth had started to show signs of
slowing down.
M2, the broad measure of money supply that covers cash in
circulation and all deposits, stood at RMB 21.4 trillion at the end of September, up 20.7
percent from a year earlier.
The pace was down from 20.8 percent year on year
growth at the end of June and the high of 21.6 percent recorded for the month of August.
Financial institutions lent RMB 690.5 billion in new loans in the third quarter of this
year, which was RMB 282.3 billion less than the second quarter.
However, aggregate
outstanding loans rose by RMB 2.5 trillion in the first nine months of the year, RMB 624
billion more than the total loan increases for all of 2002.
Chinese banks stepped up
lending this year largely as a result of improved economic activity and partly as an effort to
dilute their non-performing loan ratios.
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