China's new yuan loans rise in Q1

BEIJING — China's banks extended 4.22 trillion yuan ($613 billion) in new yuan loans in the first quarter of 2017, central bank data showed Friday.

The year-on-year growth decelerated, though, from 4.61 trillion yuan loans added in the same period last year, according to the data.

By the end of last month, total outstanding yuan-denominated loans stood at 110.83 trillion yuan, up 12.4 percent compared with the previous year.

The M2, a broad measure of the money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, grew 10.6 percent from a year earlier to about 159.96 trillion yuan by the end of March, according to an online People's Bank of China statement.

The M1, a narrow measure of the money supply which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, rose 18.8 percent year-on-year to 48.88 trillion yuan by the end of last month.

M0, the amount of cash in circulation, was up 6.1 percent to 6.86 trillion yuan.

China's monetary policy in 2017 is set to be "prudent and neutral," targeting M2 money supply to grow by around 12 percent, one percentage point lower than the 2016 target, to keep liquidity at appropriate levels.

Total social finance, a measurement of funds that non-financial firms and households get from the financial system, stood at 162.82 trillion yuan by the end of March, up 12.5 percent year-on-year, according to the PBOC data.

Official data also indicated yuan-denominated deposits added 5.06 trillion yuan in the first quarter, with the outstanding deposits standing at 155.65 trillion yuan by the end of last month.