SteelOrbis Shanghai
China's financial sector observed stable movement during the month of February 2007, and was marked by a strong increase in the figures for loans issued by Chinese financial institutions.
The loan balances of
China's financial institutions at the end of February stood at RMB 23.5 trillion ($3.04 trillion), up 17.2 percent year on year. This growth was up 1.2 percentage points month on month. RMB loans increased RMB 264.7 billion ($34.2 billion) year on year to RMB 413.8 billion ($53.5 billion) in February. Meanwhile, total loans for the Jan-Feb period have risen RMB 263.6 billion ($34.1 billion) to RMB 980 billion ($126.8 billion).
The deposit balances of
China's financial institutions totaled RMB 35.8 trillion ($4.63 trillion), up 15.5 percent year on year. Of this figure, total deposits held in Chinese currency amounted to RMB 34.5 trillion ($4.46 trillion), up 16 percent.
Broad money M2 reached RMB 35.9 trillion ($4.64 trillion), a year on year increase of 17.8 percent. The growth rate of M2 was up 1.9 percentage points compared with the previous month.
In February, the weighted average interest rate for inter-bank lending was 2.67 percent, up 0.81 of a percentage point month on month. This growth was 1.09 percentage points higher compared with the same period last year.
Remarkably, the sharp jump in new loans in January and February meant that the total loans issued by
China's financial institutions reached a new historical high. This is the basis of the current purchasing ability of Chinese enterprises, which also contributes to the brisk market demand at present.