BIZCHINA / News
China reports 13% loan growth in 1st quarter
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-04-13 11:03
China reported a 13 percent rise in newly-added renminbi loans by
financial institutions in the first three months of this year despite new
measures to curb loan growth, according to the People's Bank of China, or
central bank.
New renminbi loans totaled 1.42 trillion yuan (US$184 billion), an
increase of 167.8 billion yuan from the same period last year, the bank
said in a report released on Thursday.
Outstanding loans owed to all financial institutions jumped 16.25 percent
to 23.96 trillion yuan at the end of March, 1.52 percentage point higher
than the same period last year, according to the report.
The bank noted that a total 441.7 billion yuan of RMB loans were added in
March, 95.8 billion yuan less than last March.
In a bid to curb loan and economic growth, the bank said last week that
required reserve ratio for financial institutions will be raised further
by 0.5 percentage points as of April 16 to 10.5 percent.
The bank earlier raised the deposit reserve ratio by the same margins two
times in January and February separately and the one-year benchmark
interest rates by 0.27 percentage points from March 18.
Analysts said if the growth momentum continued, the newly-added RMB loans
for 2007 would be sure to exceed the preset target of 2.9 trillion yuan
by the central bank.
Last year the RMB loans soared by 3.18 trillion yuan, 27 percent higher
than the target of 2.5 trillion yuan set by the central bank for the
whole 2006.
The RMB deposits newly added 1.88 trillion yuan between January and
March, a decline of 59.7 billion yuan from the same period last year,
according to the report.
The report said deposits at financial institutions increased 880.4
billion yuan in March alone, an increase of 94.3 billion yuan from last
March.
The report said outstanding RMB deposits of all financial institutions
surged 15.94 percent to 35.42 trillion yuan at the end of March, 3.66
percentage points lower than the same period last year.
The slower growth of deposits came as more Chinese residents are
transferring their deposits to the bull equity markets for higher
yielding, according to an earlier survey from the central bank.
China's shares extended recorded gains on Thursday as the benchmark
Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.02 percent to close at record high of
3,531.03 points. The index has gained more than 29 percent this year
after a 130 percent surge last year.
(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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