SHANGHAI: China's bank lending picked up in June from May, the central bank said Tuesday, as authorities accelerated infrastructure investment to boost the flagging economy, but analysts warned of a possible debt bubble.
Domestic banks granted 1.08 trillion yuan ($174 billion) in new loans for June, up from 870.8 billion yuan a month earlier, the People's Bank of China (PBoC) said in a statement.
The June figure beat an average forecast of 980 billion yuan, according to a poll of 20 economists by the Wall Street Journal.
China has in recent months rolled out a "mini-stimulus" package, including targeted monetary easing and speeding up infrastructure spending, to spur economic growth.
However, China Merchants Bank analyst Liu Dongliang wrote in a research note: "On the positive side, the massive scale of credit... should provide a solid foundation for an economic recovery.
"But the overly fast growth in June loans may result in excess capacity and inflated debt bubbles."
He added that the central bank could even tighten monetary policy in the third quarter if such risks arise.
China's economy expanded 7.7 percent in 2013, the same as 2012 -- the worst pace since 7.6 percent in 1999. China's official growth target for this year is 7.5 percent, also the same as last year's.
Gross domestic product (GDP) grew 7.4 percent in the first quarter of this year.
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