CNA – China reported unexpectedly strong credit growth for February, with money supply expanding at the fastest pace in nearly seven years, as Beijing looks to support a nascent economic recovery amid rising global risks.
The government’s lifting of harsh pandemic curbs in December and other policy easing measures have started to rekindle credit demand in the world’s second-largest economy, after a COVID-induced slump in business and consumer confidence in the last few years.
Growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, quickened to 9.9 per cent in February from a year earlier, the highest since November 2022, and rising from 9.4 per cent in January.
TSF includes off-balance sheet forms of financing that exist outside the conventional bank lending system, such as initial public offerings, loans from trust companies and bond sales.
Other key credit gauges also showed a solid pick-up.
Broad M2 money supply grew 12.9 per cent from a year earlier, central bank data showed yesterday, the strongest pace since March 2016. The reading was well above estimates of 12.5 per cent forecast in the Reuters poll and a 12.6 per cent pace in January.
