China's 2013 lending hits 8.89 trln yuan

BEIJING, Jan. 15 -- China's new yuan-denominated lending was 8.89 trillion yuan (1.5 trillion U.S. dollars) in 2013, up 687.9 billion yuan, the central bank announced on Wednesday.

New loans denominated in foreign currencies hit 584.8 billion yuan in 2013, representing a year-on-year decrease of 331.5 billion yuan, according to Sheng Songcheng, financial survey and statistics chief at the People's Bank of China.

Total social financing, a measure of funds raised by entities in the real economy, stood at 17.29 trillion yuan last year, up 1.53 trillion yuan from a year previously and a record high.

The new yuan lending took about 51.4 percent of the social financing, the lowest amount in history and 0.6 percentage points lower than the previous year.

The narrow measure of money supply (M1), which covers cash in circulation plus current corporate deposits, rose 9.3 percent year on year to 33.73 trillion yuan.

The broad measure of money supply (M2), which covers cash in circulation and all deposits, jumped 13.6 percent to 110.65 trillion yuan in 2013, growing 0.2 percentage points less than in 2012, Sheng said.

Outstanding cash in circulation (M0) amounted to 5.86, up 7.1 percent from a year earlier.

Last year, the net amount of cash put into circulation stood at 389.9 billion yuan.

China's foreign exchange reserves rose 509.7 billion U.S. dollars to reach 3.82 trillion dollars at the end of the year.