(Yicai) Jan. 15 -- China’s financial markets maintained stable operations last year, with reasonable and sufficient liquidity, as supporting measures targeting the real economy such as constantly optimized credit structures came into force, experts told Yicai.

M2 broad money, social financing and yuan loans all expanded at a respectable rate of around 10 percent last year from a year ago, creating a suitable monetary and financial environment for sustained recovery of the country’s economy, said Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at Merchants-Unicom Consumer Finance.

Newly added social financing jumped 10.5 percent last year from the year before to CNY35.5 trillion (USD4.9 trillion), while new yuan loans climbed 6.1 percent to CNY22.7 trillion (USD3.1 billion).

In December alone, some CNY1.1 trillion (USD154 billion) of yuan loans were added, CNY240.1 billion (USD33.6 billion) less than last year’s increase, according to data revealed by the People’s Bank of China, the country’s central bank.

China’s financial system strengthened its support for the real economy in December 2022 when there was a peak in Covid-19 outbreaks, the experts said. This led to a higher base line and slower year-on-year growth in yuan loans last month.

Short-term loans in the household sector widened CNY700 billion (USD98 billion) in 2023 year on year while medium and long-term loans narrowed CNY200 billion, according to Liang Si, a researcher at Bank of China’s research institute. In December alone, short-term borrowing expanded by CNY87.2 billion (USD12.2 billion), demonstrating a rebound in personal consumption.

Transactions in the real estate market also picked up in December compared with November, although year-on-year growth slowed, indicating that people are becoming more willing to purchase houses.

Looking ahead, as more policies to stabilize economic growth take effect, this month’s newly added yuan loans should hopefully continue to expand, said Wang Qing, chief macroeconomic analyst at Golden Credit Rating International.

Editor: Kim Taylor