China March new yuan loans rise to 1,370bn yuan, beating forecasts

BEIJING: Chinese banks extended 1,370 billion yuan ($211.23 billion) in net new yuan loans in March, exceeding analyst expectations and the previous month's lending of 726.6 billion yuan.

The central bank said the broad M2 money supply (M2) grew at 13.4 percent from a year earlier, just missing forecasts.

Outstanding yuan loans grew 14.7 percent by month-end on an annual basis.

Analysts polled by Reuters had expected outstanding loans to rise by 14.5 percent, and predicted the money supply would rise by 13.5 percent.

China's foreign exchange reserves stood at $3.51 trillion at the end of third quarter.