China Yuan Lending Rises in May

BEIJING, June 11 (Xinhua) -- China's new yuan-denominated loans rose to 793.2 billion yuan (125.9 billion U.S. dollars) in May, 241.6 billion yuan up from the same period last year, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), or the central bank, said Monday.

The figure was in line with market estimates of around 800 billion yuan, as the government has moved to relax its grip on credit controls to buoy the slowing economy.

PBOC data showed that new yuan-denominated loans in May were higher than 681.8 billion yuan in April. New loans stood at 1.01 trillion yuan in March, 710.7 billion yuan in February and 738 billion yuan in January.

With borrowing demand dampened by an economic slump both at home and abroad, the PBOC approved the first interest rate cut since December 2008 on Friday, as well as three cuts in the reserve requirement ratio for banks, to add fuel to the economy.

New loans in foreign currencies in May were worth 30.2 billion yuan, 54 billion yuan less than the same period last year.

M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 13.2 percent year-on-year to 90 trillion yuan at the end of May.

The growth was faster than the 12.8-percent rate a month earlier, but lower than the 14-percent annual target set by the government for 2012.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, climbed 3.5 percent year on year to 27.86 trillion yuan at the end of May. The rise was 0.4 percentage points higher than that of a month earlier.

Preliminary data shows the country's social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities in the real economy, totaled 1.14 trillion yuan in May, 56.2 billion yuan more than the same period of 2011 and 177.5 billion yuan more than in April, the PBOC said.

Yuan-denominated deposits increased by 1.22 trillion yuan in May, compared with a fall of 465.6 billion yuan in April.

In May, cross-border trade deals settled in yuan reached 216 billion yuan, while yuan-denominated cross-border direct investment totaled 19 billion yuan, according to the PBOC.