China new bank loans in July at two-year low

AFP, BEIJING: New loans extended by Chinese banks in July fell to their lowest level in two years, official data showed yesterday, as authorities tighten credit on concerns over the country's mounting debt problem.
Chinese lenders gave out 463.6 billion yuan ($69.8 billion) in loans last month, the central People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement. It was the lowest figure since July 2014, according to Bloomberg News, and a sharp fall from 1.38 trillion yuan banks lent in June.
It was also far behind a median forecast of 850 billion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of
economists.
Easy credit has been an important policy tool as Beijing works to avoid a hard landing
for the world's second-largest economy,
but many analysts are concerned the country faces a hangover from its debt binge.
China's total debt hit 168.48 trillion yuan at the end of last year, equivalent to 249 per cent of national GDP, top government think tank the China Academy of Social Sciences has estimated.
The country's mostly state-controlled banks wrote off more than $300 billion of bad loans in the past three years, a high-ranking official with industry watchdog the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in June, as Beijing sought to reassure investors that China can cope with its mounting debt problem.
The People's Daily, the ruling Communist Party's official mouthpiece, warned in an op-ed in May that China must turn off the taps of credit-driven growth to avoid crisis in its financial system in the face of rising bad loans and other risks.

China new bank loans in July at two-year low

AFP, BEIJING: New loans extended by Chinese banks in July fell to their lowest level in two years, official data showed yesterday, as authorities tighten credit on concerns over the countrys mounting debt problem. Chinese lenders gave out 463.6 billion yuan ($69.8 billion) in loans last month, the central Peoples Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement. It was the lowest figure since July 2014, according to Bloomberg News, and a sharp fall from 1.38 trillion yuan banks lent in June. It was also far behind a median forecast of 850 billion yuan in a Bloomberg survey of economists. Easy credit has been an important policy tool as Beijing works to avoid a hard landing for the worlds second-largest economy, but many analysts are concerned the country faces a hangover from its debt binge. Chinas total debt hit 168.48 trillion yuan at the end of last year, equivalent to 249 per cent of national GDP, top government think tank the China Academy of Social Sciences has estimated. The countrys mostly state-controlled banks wrote off more than $300 billion of bad loans in the past three years, a high-ranking official with industry watchdog the China Banking Regulatory Commission said in June, as Beijing sought to reassure investors that China can cope with its mounting debt problem. The Peoples Daily, the ruling Communist Partys official mouthpiece, warned in an op-ed in May that China must turn off the taps of credit-driven growth to avoid crisis in its financial system in the face of rising bad loans and other risks.