China new bank loans rise in May, but well below forecasts

CHINESE banks extended 950 billion yuan (S$177.2 billion) in new yuan loans in May, rising from April but missing analysts’ expectations.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted loans would rise to 1.255 trillion yuan in May from 730 billion yuan in April, but would still be below the 1.36 trillion yuan issued in the same month a year earlier.

The People’s Bank of China does not provide monthly breakdowns but Reuters calculated the May figures based on the bank’s Jan-to-May data released on Friday (Jun 14), compared with the Jan-to-April figure.

The PBOC said new loans totalled 11.14 trillion yuan for the first five months of the year.

Broad M2 money supply grew 7 per cent from a year earlier, the data showed, falling short of analysts’ estimate for a 7.2 per cent rise. M2 grew 7.2 per cent in April from a year ago.

Outstanding yuan loans rose 9.3 per cent last month from a year earlier compared with 9.6 per cent growth in April. Analysts had expected 9.5 per cent growth. REUTERS