Official metrics show shadow banking resurgent as credit growth rises

China’s shadow banking sector has seen a resurgence after a dip in official measurements of the industry, Bloomberg reported, citing data from the People’s Bank of China. The bank said aggregate financing had reached RMB1.69 trillion (US$273 billion), as new yuan loans missed economists’ forecasts while shadow lending rose to the highest in monthly records that began in 2012. “This highlights the dilemma for the PBOC: the real economy is still weak, and loan demand is weak, but speculative activity is rampant, and local governments need funding,” said Shen Jianguang, Hong Kong-based chief Asia economist at Mizuho Securities Asia.