BEIJING: China’s new bank loans grew more than expected in September fuelled by a jump in corporate loans as the economy continued to recover from its coronavirus-induced slump.

The country’s economic outlook has turned more optimistic on aggressive government stimulus, with recent data pointing to a steady improvement from the Covid-19 health crisis.

Lenders issued 1.9 trillion yuan ($282.3 billion) in new yuan loans, data from the People’s Bank of China showed on Wednesday, up 48.4% from August and exceeding analysts’ expectations.

That pushed bank lending in the first nine months of this year to 16.26 trillion yuan, beating a previous peak of 13.63 trillion yuan in the first three quarters of 2019.

Analysts polled by Reuters had predicted new loans would rise to 1.7 trillion yuan from 1.28 trillion yuan the previous month.

Household loans, mostly mortgages, rose to 960.7 billion yuan from 841.5 billion yuan in August, while corporate loans jumped to 945.8 billion yuan from 579.7 billion yuan, according to Reuters calculations based on the data.

Broad M2 money supply in September grew 10.9% from a year earlier, topping analysts’ estimates of 10.4%.

Outstanding yuan loans grew 13%, unchanged from the gain in August. Analysts had expected 12.9% growth.

Annual growth of outstanding total social financing (TSF), a broad measure of credit and liquidity in the economy, quickened to 13.5% in September from 13.3% in the preceding month.

In September, TSF fell to 3.48 trillion yuan from 3.58 trillion yuan in August. Analysts polled by Reuters had expected 3.15 trillion yuan.—Reuters