China's new yuan loans rise in July

BEIJING -- China's new yuan-denominated loans totaled 1.08 trillion yuan (about $166.59 billion) last month, up 90.5 billion yuan from the same period last year, central bank data showed Wednesday.

The M2, a broad measure of money supply that covers cash in circulation and all deposits, increased 8.3 percent year-on-year to 230.22 trillion yuan at the end of July, according to the People's Bank of China.

The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points lower than the figure seen at the end of June, and was 2.4 percentage points lower than that during the same period last year.

The M1, which covers cash in circulation plus demand deposits, stood at 62.04 trillion yuan at the end of July. It was up by 4.9 percent year-on-year.

The M0, the amount of cash in circulation, went up by 6.1 percent from a year ago to 8.47 trillion yuan at the end of last month.

The central bank injected 37.1 billion yuan of net cash into the market in July.

The newly-added social financing, a measure of funds individuals and non-financial firms receive from the financial system, came in at 1.06 trillion yuan in July. It was down by 636.2 billion yuan from the same period last year.

In breakdown, yuan-denominated loans to the real economy increased by 839.1 billion yuan in July.

By the end of July, total social financing reached 302.49 trillion yuan, up 10.7 percent year-on-year.

Wednesday's data also showed that by the end of July, outstanding yuan deposits increased 8.6 percent year-on-year to 225.49 trillion yuan.

The central bank has cut the reserve requirement ratio by 50 basis points for eligible financial institutions from July 15.

The reduction is a regular measure after the country's monetary policy normalized, said the PBOC, noting that the central bank will stick to a normal monetary policy while keeping it stable and effective.