China's 2012 New Loans Hit 8.2 trln yuan

BEIJING, Jan. 11 -- China's new yuan-denominated lending reached 8.2 trillion yuan (1.3 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2012, up 732 billion yuan year on year, the country's central bank announced Thursday.

New loans denominated in foreign currencies amounted to 916.3 billion yuan in 2012, representing a year-on-year increase of 345.1 billion yuan, according to a People's Bank of China (PBOC) statement.

In December, Chinese financial institutions extended 454.3 billion yuan in new loans, down 68.6 billion yuan from November and marking a year-on-year decrease of 186.3 billion yuan.

The central bank said total social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities in the real economy, stood at 15.76 trillion yuan last year, up 2.93 trillion yuan from 2011.

In December, the country's social financing hit 1.63 trillion yuan, up 351.2 billion yuan from one year earlier, according to the statement.

As of the end of last month, the broad measure of money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, jumped 13.8 percent year on year to 97.42 trillion yuan, according to the PBOC.

The growth rate was slightly below the government's annual target of 14 percent for 2012.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, rose 6.5 percent year on year to 30.87 trillion yuan.

The outstanding amount of cash in circulation (M0) amounted to 5.47 trillion yuan as of the end of 2012, up 7.7 percent from one year earlier.

Last year, the net amount of cash put into circulation stood at 391 billion yuan.

The country's foreign exchange reserves hit 3.31 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2012, according to the statement.

The central bank said in late December that the country will continue to implement a prudent monetary policy in 2013, seeking "stable and appropriate" growth in credit and money supplies while maintaining a reasonable scale for social financing.

Analysts said they expect total social financing will rise to 17 trillion yuan in 2013 and that the M2 growth rate will reach 15 percent.

E Yongjian, a researcher with the Bank of Communications, said credit conditions will not be too loose in 2013, as the government wants to avoid overheated investment and prevent a rebound in property prices.

He said he expects financial institutions to extend 9 to 9.5 trillion yuan in new loans in 2013.

The central bank may lower benchmark interest rates once in the first half of 2013 to reduce enterprises' financing costs, as well as cut the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) twice in the first quarter to meet the country's resilient demand for loans, according to E.

In order to buoy growth, the central bank cut the RRR twice in 2012. It also lowered benchmark interest rates twice over the course of the year.