Total social financing availability up in June

Total social financing, the broadest measure of China's credit growth, rose 9.75 trillion yuan ($1.45 billion; 1.31 billion euros) in the first half of this year, official data show.

This level of credit growth is appropriate for the broader economy, but more targeted polices are needed to help boost financing in the private sector, according to Sheng Songcheng, head of surveys and statistics at the Chinese central bank.

The total social financing increase in May was 659.9 billion yuan, and market expectations were for a June rise of 1.1 trillion yuan. However, the actual rise showed a bigger-than-expected June stimulus amounting to 1.63 trillion yuan.

New yuan loans issued to the real economy increased by 7.48 trillion yuan in the first six months, up by 894.9 billion yuan compared with the same period a year earlier.

Xie Yaxuan, chief economist at China Merchants Securities Co, says the first-half credit growth is adequate to stabilize growth in the second half. "The government has no intention to take massive stimulus measures or seek short-term growth at the cost of long-term financial and economic stability," Xie says.

In the meantime, a continued increase of the narrow measure of money supply, or M1, points to the need for further moves to increase financing in the private sector.

The M1 money supply, which includes liquid assets such as cash and demand deposits, increased by 24.6 percent year-on-year. This shows a widened divergence from M2 money supply, a broader monetary measure that also includes longer-term assets, which grew at 11.8 percent.

"They have weak willingness to make investments and have rising difficulties finding appropriate projects in which to invest," Sheng says.

Lian Ping, chief economist at Bank of Communications Co, says many small and medium-sized companies face tight credit conditions despite China's rapid lending expansion. "It makes sense for the central bank to maintain a prudent monetary policy in the second half. But we do need more targeted policies to help corporate financing."

wangyanfei@chinadaily.com.cn