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China's economy in good shape: central bank official

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-26 23:07

BEIJING -- Yi Gang, a senior official of China's central bank, said Friday that the nation's economic fundamentals are "in good shape" and urged people to have faith in the country's growth.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, a Chinese flag flutters in front of the headquarters of the People's Bank of China (PBOC) in Beijing on Thursday, Nov. 27, 2008. Yi Gang, a senior official of China's central bank, said Friday that the nation's economic fundamentals are "in good shape" and urged people to have faith in the country's growth. [Agencies]

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Yi, vice governor of the People's Bank of China (PBOC), said his assessment is based on the balance sheets of residents, enterprises, the financial sector and the government, which are all in a "healthy" state.

Bank savings of residents have exceeded 20 trillion yuan (2.9 trillion US dollars), while their loans, including those for cars and housing, added up to merely 3.7 trillion yuan, Yi told a financial forum here.

Deposits of Chinese residents stood at 20.8 trillion yuan at the end of September.

"This indicates that the debt level of Chinese households is quite low and such balance sheets are very healthy, compared with those for US and European households, making it possible to create room for development," he said.

Zhou Xiaochuan, PBOC governor, who also attended the China Finance Forum 2008, said the country needs to expand domestic consumption at the same time as it increases investment, to achieve the goal of spurring domestic demand.

Yi said corporate finances are also relatively healthy.

"The average debt to assets ratio of 5,000 non-financial enterprises monitored by the central bank is 55 percent," which is below previous figures, he said.

Yi added the country's lenders as a whole have a very high capital adequacy ratio with a low non-performing loan ratio, and he stressed that the financial sector is capable of supporting the economy.

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