Shanghai Reports Substantial Increase in Consumer LoansShanghai, China's leading manufacturing center, scored a 100 percent rise in consumer loans in the first eleven months of this year over the same period of 1999.The outstanding consumer loans totaled nearly 60 billion yuan at the end of November, 27.4 billion yuan more than at the end of 1999, according to the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China, the country's central bank. Housing loans constituted the lion's share of the loans, hitting 52 billion yuan at the end of November, 20.9 billion yuan more than in early 2000. The loans were extended to 187,900 individuals who bought apartments with a total floor space of nearly 20 million square meters. Non-housing loans showed the strongest growth momentum, amounting to 7.86 billion yuan at the end of November, 6.5 billion yuan more than in early 2000. The sharp increase in consumer loans contributed largely to the optimization of the loan structure of all commercial banks, a leading official of the Shanghai Branch of the People's Bank of China said. |
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