Chinese banks made RMB1.05 trillion ($168.8 billion) new RMB loans in March, in line with forecast of RMB1 trillion, according to data released by the People’s Bank of China.
March’s new local currency loan number is well above February’s RMB644.5 billion yuan.
Total social financing aggregate, a wider measure of overall credit growth in the country, reached RMB2.07 trillion in March.
The broad M2 money supply grew 12.1% last month year-on-year, and outstanding RMB loans rose 13.9% year-on-year.
China’s foreign exchange reserves also rose to US$3.95 trillion at the end of the first quarter, up from US$3.82 trillion at the end of the fourth quarter last year.