China’s demand for credit seems to be picking up. That’s according to new lending numbers for September released Thursday by the People’s Bank of China.
The central bank says Chinese banks issued about 857 billion yuan, or 140 billion U.S. dollars, worth of new loans in September. That’s much higher than August’s reading and easily beat market forecasts of between 730 and 735 billion yuan.
During the same period, M2 money supply rose nearly 13 percent from a year ago, in line with market expectations. Total social financing, the broadest gauge of liquidity in the Chinese economy, rose to 1.05 trillion yuan in September from August’s 957 billion yuan.
China’s foreign exchange reserves stood at 3.89 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of September, falling slightly from 3.99 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of the second quarter.
