SteelOrbis Shanghai
The People's Bank of China (central bank) has released its bulletin regarding the situation of China's financial institutions for the month of January.
By the end of January 2008, broad money (M2) reached RMB 41.78 trillion ($5.82 trillion), a year-on-year increase of 18.94 percent. The growth rate was 2.2 percentage points higher than the previous month. Money in circulation (M0) stood at RMB 3.67 trillion ($0.51 trillion), up 31.21 percent year on year.
Bank loans grew by 16.74 percent year on year. By the end of January, total outstanding bank loans of financial institutions in China stood at RMB 26.97 trillion ($3.76 trillion), up 16.74 percent year on year. This growth rate was up 0.64 of a percentage point compared with the end of the previous year. Meanwhile, total bank loans issued in January rose RMB 803.6 billion ($111.9 billion) month on month, representing an increase of RMB 237.3 billion ($33.1 billion) year on year.
By the end of January, total deposits at China's financial institutions amounted to RMB 40.25 trillion ($5.61 trillion), up 13.96 percent year on year. Of this figure, total deposits held in Chinese currency amounted to RMB 39.16 trillion ($5.45 trillion), up 15.12 percent.
In January, the weighted average interest rate for inter-bank lending was 2.32 percent, up 0.23 of a percentage point month on month. This growth rate was 0.46 of a percentage point higher compared with the same period last year.