As announced by the Chinese central bank on April 14, in the first quarter of the current year newly-issued RMB-based loans totaled RMB 2.24 trillion ($342 billion), down by RMB 352.4 billion ($53.8 billion) year on year. Meanwhile, newly-issued foreign currency-based loans in the quarter increased by RMB 147.4 billion ($22.5 billion), down by RMB 45.7 billion on year-on-year basis.
China's broad money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 16.6 percent year on year to RMB 75.81 trillion ($11.57 trillion) in the first quarter of 2011. The rise was 0.9 percentage points higher than in February and 3.1 percentage points lower than that at the end of last year.
The narrow measure of money supply (M1), cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, climbed 15 percent from a year earlier to RMB 26.63 trillion (RMB 4.04 trillion). The increase was 6.2 percentage points lower than that at the end of 2010.